A truck with a Louisiana license plate makes one of two passes within 10 minutes purposely pushing out dark clouds of exhaust from its diesel engine next to faith leaders and protesters April 11 outside the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Jena. The crowd was supporting Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil after judges ruled he could be deported.
Jena’s ICE detention center has become a significant presence in the area
BY JOHN SIMERMAN | Staff writer
JENA A group of protesters stood outside the federal immigration center in this central Louisiana town a few weeks ago, calling for it to be emptied, when a truck rolled past and belched a plume of exhaust at them.
The driver circled around as the group faced a bank of TV news cameras set up in the brush across the road, then repeated the act a greeting of sorts to a hamlet in the pines that once again has drawn a national media glare.
The protesters had trekked 230 miles that morning from New Orleans to support Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, now in his second month at the detention center, where a judge that day had found him deportable.
It’s here, at a compound cut into the pines a few miles from downtown Jena, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have sent Khalil and some other noncitizens and students targeted for removal by President Donald Trump’s administration,
ä See SPOTLIGHT, page 4A
Faith leaders and supporters walk outside the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Jena, which is holding Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. Advocates for Khalil and other recent detainees say they’ve been spirited to remote areas like Jena with a purpose: to confound access to their lawyers and challenges to deportation.
New technology paints clearer picture of region
BY JENNA ROSS | Staff writer
Discovering Mayan cities used to involve bushwhacking through the jungle, schlepping gear and sidestepping snakes. And over the course of his career professor Marcello Canuto has done plenty of that Still does, sometimes.
But these days, the discoveries are coming from a dark, cool computer lab on the Tulane University campus. That lab is the new star of the Middle American Research Institute, an enduring font of information about Indigenous America, especially the ancient Maya, who lived in what is today southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. For decades,
ä See CITY, page 5A
Tulane University professor Marcello Canuto, left, reviews LIDAR images with graduate student Miguel Garcia at the Middle American Research Institute in New Orleans this month. New technology is giving researchers a better view of ancient civilizations.
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
caution against making predictions
BY QUINN COFFMAN | Staff writer
After the first quarter of 2025, East Baton Rouge Parish is on pace to see a slight decline in the annual number of homicides compared with 2024, but it would remain within its new normal of 100 or more for the year
Twenty-five homicides were reported in the parish between Jan. 1 and March 31, a decrease of nearly 31% from the same period last year, when the number was 36.
A year with fewer homicides would also finally align East Baton Rouge with trends that show rates of violent crime falling significantly across the country District Attorney Hillar Moore said he sees the parish slowly descending from the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak of crime to find its place among other cities.
“When you start with a year with 150 murders, that COVID year and you start coming down every year since then, other cities came down more rapidly than we did, but we are getting back down to that normal,” Moore said.
The first-quarter homicide number projects to a total of 100 by the end of 2025. That is not only lower than 2024, which finished with 113, it would be tied with 2023 for the lowest number of killings since the pandemic.
See HOMICIDES,
East Baton Rouge
is on
to see a slight decline in the annual number of homicides this year compared with 2024, but it would remain within its new normal of 100 or more for the year
House committee to tackle two dozen related bills
BY DAVID J MITCHELL | Staff writer
Over the past four years, $49 billion in new industrial projects have been proposed in Louisiana to make hydrogen, ammonia and other products — and all of them are banking on permanent underground storage of the greenhouse gas pollution they would produce.
“Carbon capture and sequestration” is a major economic development focus in Louisiana, given the state’s suitable geology and the industry’s move toward reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change.
ä See CAPTURE, page 5A
Storm brings tornadoes, flooding, large hail
A slow-moving, active storm system brought heavy rain, large hail and tornadoes to parts of Texas and Oklahoma and left three people dead as severe weather warnings Sunday continue to threaten parts of the south-central and Midwest U.S. On Easter Sunday communities in Texas and Oklahoma were beginning to assess the damage wreaked by tornadoes There were 17 reported events Saturday, according to Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center Five were confirmed in south-central Oklahoma, including one that inflicted substantial damage on a small town that was still recovering from a March tornado.
The storm also brought heavy rain to a broad swath of northcentral Texas across centraleastern Oklahoma, much of which saw 2 to 4 inches accumulate Saturday into Sunday Police in Moore, about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, received dozens of reports of “high-water incidents” over the weekend, including two cars stranded in floodwaters Saturday evening. One car was swept away under a bridge, and police said they were able to rescue some people, but a woman and 12-year-old boy were found dead.
“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city,” Moore police said in a statement Sunday Moore has about 63,000 residents.
The storm also killed one person about 80 miles farther southeast after a tornado touched down in Spaulding, according to the Hughes County Emergency Management. The department wrote on Facebook that several homes and structures were destroyed and there were “numerous washouts” of county roads
The National Weather Service said the preliminary survey of damage showed that tornado was at least EF1, with wind speeds between 86 and 110 mph, as was another south of Oklahoma City in Love County
Bukele floats prisoner swap with Venezuela
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela on Sunday, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the United States his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela.
In a post on the social media platform X, directed at President Nicolás Maduro Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year
“The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that includes the repatriation of 100% of the 252 Venezuelans who were deported, in exchange for the release and surrender of an identical number (252) of the thousands of political prisoners you hold.”
2 Russians, 1 American back from space station
MOSCOW A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russians and one American from the International Space Station landed Sunday in Kazakhstan, ending their sevenmonth research assignment.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the capsule carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner and astronaut Don Pettit of U.S. space agency NASA landed on the Kazakh steppe near the city of Zhezkazgan at 6:20 a.m. Roscosmos said the parachuteassisted landing was a troublefree descent.
The trio returned after spending 220 days in space and orbiting the Earth 3,520 times, NASA said. The agency noted that, coincidentally Pettit celebrated his 70th birthday on Sunday NASA said it was following its routine postlanding medical checks, and that the crew will return to the recovery staging area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
BY NICOLE WINFIELD and SILVIA STELLACCI Associated Press
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis emerged from his convalescence on Easter Sunday to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause as he continues his recovery from a near-fatal bout of double pneumonia “Viva il Papa!” (Long live the pope), “Bravo!” the crowd shouted as Francis looped through the square in his open-topped popemobile and then up and down the main avenue leading to it. He stopped occasionally to bless babies brought up to him, a scene that was common in the past but unthinkable just a few weeks ago as the 88-year-old pope fought for his life
“Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!” Francis said, his voice sounding stronger than it has since he was released from the hospital March 23 after a fiveweek stay Francis didn’t celebrate the Easter Mass in the piazza, delegating it to Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the retired archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. But after the Mass
Pope Francis tours St.
bestowing
ended, Francis appeared on the loggia balcony over the basilica entrance for more than 20 minutes and imparted the apostolic blessing in Latin.
The crowd of people below estimated by the Vatican to be more than 35,000, erupted in cheers as a military band kicked off rounds of the Holy See anthem.
In all Francis was outside on a sunny spring day for around 50 minutes, with temperatures at 70 degrees in a piazza awash in daffodils, tulips and other flowers donated by the Netherlands for Easter
“It is excellent, a miracle,” said Margarita Torres Hernandez, a pilgrim from Mexico who was in the square. “Now that he has come out, for me it’s a miracle, it’s something very big, very beautiful.”
On his way to the basilica, Francis met briefly in his hotel with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who was spending Easter in Rome with his family The Vatican said the encounter lasted just a few minutes and was designed to allow for an exchange of Easter greetings.
Francis, for his part, gave Vance three big chocolate Easter eggs to give to his three young children.
“I know you have not been feeling great but it’s good to see you
BY VOLODYMYR YURCHUK and ELISE MORTON Associated Press
KYIV Ukraine Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Sunday of creating a false appearance of honoring an Easter ceasefire, saying Moscow continued to launch attacks after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a unilateral temporary truce.
“As of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places, it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Despite Putin’s declaration of an Easter ceasefire, Zelenskyy said Sunday morning that Ukrainian forces had recorded 59 in-
stances of Russian shelling and five assaults by units along the front line, as well as dozens of drone strikes.
In later updates, Zelenskyy said that despite Ukraine declaring a symmetrical approach to Russian actions, “the trend of increasing the use of heavy weaponry by Russian forces continues.” He said, however that it was “a good thing, at least, that there were no air raid sirens.”
He noted that some Ukrainian troops were killed in a Russian “ambush” on Sunday in the Donetsk region, and said the Russian soldiers responsible would be “eliminated.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of overnight attacks in the Donetsk region despite the ceasefire.
It said Ukraine had sent 48 drones into Russian territory According to the
in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”
Francis has only appeared in public a handful of times since returning to the Vatican after a 38day hospital stay He skipped the solemn services of Good Friday and Holy Saturday leading up to Easter, but he had been expected to make an appearance on Sunday
Doctors have prescribed two months of convalescence and respiratory therapy to improve his lung function after he came down with a life-threatening case of double pneumonia He still seems to require great effort to project his voice, and his breathing remains labored. But his voice sounded stronger than it has to date in the few words he uttered from the loggia.
“It was a very touching moment for us (to see the pope),” said Marcin Popowsky, a pilgrim from Poland. “And we are very happy that we can see a pope in good shape.”
Easter is the most joyful moment on the Christian liturgical calendar, when the faithful celebrate the resurrection of Christ after his crucifixion. This year Easter is being celebrated on the same day by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, and has been marked by Russia’s announced temporary Easter truce in its war in Ukraine.
ministry, there were “dead and wounded among the civilian population,” without giving details. It claimed Russian troops had strictly observed the truce.
Russia-installed officials in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson also said Ukrainian forces launched attacks.
Zelenskyy said Russia must fully adhere to the ceasefire conditions and reiterated Ukraine’s offer to extend the truce for 30 days when it ends Sunday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybihaa said Moscow had not responded to Kyiv’s proposal.
Alito’s dissent says high court rushed to block
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court acted “literally in the middle of the night” and without sufficient explanation in blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a sharp dissent that castigated the seven-member majority Joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito said there was “dubious factual support” for granting the request in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union.
deportation order
The group contended that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart such removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The majority did not provide a detailed explanation in the order early Saturday, as is typical, but the court previously said deportations could proceed only after those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law,” Alito said in the dissent released hours after the court’s intervention
against Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.
The justices’ brief order directed the administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”
Alito said that “unprecedented” relief was “hastily and prematurely granted.”
He wrote that it was not clear whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction at this stage of the case, saying that not all legal avenues had been played out in lower courts and the justices had not had the chance to hear the government’s side.
‘Professional failures’ found, officer fired
BY MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
JERUSALEM An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces said Sunday it found a chain of “professional failures” and a deputy commander has been fired.
The shootings outraged many in the international community, with some calling the killings a war crime. Medical workers have special protection under international humanitarian law The International Red Cross/Red Crescent called it the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years. Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked
Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel’s initial account. Footage shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that earlier came under fire.
The military investigation found that the deputy battalion commander acted under the incorrect assumption that all the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants. It said the deputy commander, operating under “poor night visibility,” felt his troops were under threat when the ambulances sped toward their position and medics rushed out to check the victims. The military said the flashing lights were less visible on night-vision drones and goggles. The ambulances immediately came under a barrage of gunfire that went on for more than five minutes with brief pauses. Minutes later, soldiers opened fire at a U.N. car that stopped at the scene.
Eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defense workers and a U.N staffer were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. U.N. and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later
theadvocate.com/subscribe E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com
BY TARA COPP Associated Press
WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethcreated another Signal messaging chat that includedhis wife and brother where he shared similar details of aMarchmilitary airstrikeagainst Yemen’sHouthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, The New York Times reported. Aperson familiar withthe contents and those who receivedthe messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press. The second chat on Signal which is acommercially available appnot authorizedtobeused to
communicate sensitive or classified national defense information— included 13 people, the person said. Theyalso confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘Team Huddle.”
after it has failed to takeaction so far against the topnational security officials who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal.
The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’swife, Jennifer,who is aformer Fox News producer, and hisbrother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagonasa Department of Homeland Securityliaison andsenior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.
Therevelation of the additional chat groupbrought freshcriticism against Hegseth and President Donald Trump’swider administration
While Moore said he believes the parish will slowly return to around 80 annual homicides as the norm,he said that is “still too high for acityofour size. We would like to get back to a50s to 60s range.
Amicrocosm of 2024
The Advocate maintains records of homicides as they occur throughout theyear. Those numbers arechecked against reports from the Baton Rouge PoliceDepartment, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’sOffice.
As the counts are reconciled, certain killings are excluded: homicides ruled as justified self-defense and deaths ruled as negligent killings beingthe main two categories.
This year,two deaths have also been excluded from the count because the crimes actually took place in aprevious year,with the victims dying from their wounds in 2025.
Looking at the 25 homicides counted through March 31, trends in the kinds of victims and their manner of death show amicrocosm of 2024.
Almost all of this year’shomicide victims sufferedgunshot wounds. The only exceptionisthe killing of 20-yearold Southern University student Caleb Wilson, who was beaten in awarehouseoff of Scenic Highway as part of a fraternity hazing ritual.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse saidagrowing number of weapons being illegally modified to be automatic continues to make Baton Rouge shootings more deadly
“It’shard to sayhow many of theseactual homicides occurred because of automatic weapons,” Morsesaid. “But Ican tell you that so far this year we’ve seized 369 firearms and 15 of those were full autos.”
Last year,97of1,109 firearms seized were fully automatic. Most of the fully automatic seizedweapons both years weremodifiedusing cheapplastic devicesknown as Glockswitches.
Morse cited another factor as driving up homicide num-
Killings haveremained
“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put livesat risk.But Trump is still too weak to fire him,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumerposted on X. “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”
Thefirstchat, setupby national security adviser Mike Waltz, includeda numberofCabinet members and cametolight because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group. Thecontents of that chat, which The Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth listed weaponssystems
anda timeline for the attack on Iran-backed HouthisinYemen last month.
The White House, the National Security Council and aPentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking commentabout the additionalchat group.
Hegseth haspreviouslycontended that no classified information or warplansweresharedinthe chat withthe journalist.
The Times reported Sunday that the second chat had the same warplane launchtimesthatthe first chat included. Multiple former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before astrike would have certainly been classified and their release could have put pilots in danger
“Biggest thing that we’ve been seeing going up and up and up is just the (number of) juveniles involved with these shootings. Youknow, the suspects that were arrested being younger and younger,” he said.
Conclusionshardtodraw
Drawing conclusions from homicide data can be aproblematic exercise. At the end of 2024, crime-data statistician Jeff Asher cautioned against evaluating any law enforcement agency or specific policyoff asingle year’s crime data.
Working off of only three months of dataiseven less illuminating, and making projections forthe rest of theyear could show patterns that might not truly be there.
Mooresaiditdoesn’ttake
bers: shootingsinvolving smallcriminal organizations. Thekilling of 8-year-old Diellon Daniels in November was consideredabotched hit by one of these groups, firing on apregnant mother with hercar full of children rather than the intended target.
Similarly,the killingof 27-year-oldplumber Trevor Harrison in Februarywas an example of abystander being caught in the crossfireof acriminal group. Baton Rouge authorities arereticenttouse the term “gang,” partly because those local groups arelesshierarchical and moreloosely organized around ashared social context than atraditional gang.
Also, federal agencies require specificreportingof crimes deemed to be tiedto organizedcrime.Morse said he would like his agency to do more of this kind of tracking, as it would allow for specific anti-organized-crimeRICO charges to be brought against suspects.
Those arrested rarely admit to having tiestosuch a group,but those homicides
canbeinferred as gang-related with enough context.
“It’s hard to say exactly,but when we know this person was in that lifestyle, and they were shot multiple times by multiple people, then we tend to lean toward ‘this was some kindofopposition groupor gang on gang kind of thing,’”
Morse said
As an example,hepointed to an April15shooting where a3-year-old was caught in acrossfire between two groups. Still, deathsinvolving bystanders are theexception; most victims knowtheir killerinsome way,hesaid
Moore agreed, saying these bystander shootings are examples of atruly wrongplace, wrong-timesituation for victims.
So far thisyear,East Baton Rouge has seen four killings ruled as domestic violence in some way,usually being between partners, such as the killing of 58-year-old PatriciaJackson. Morse saidthis number is on par with past year
Also stableisthe number of juveniles arrested forviolent crimes,Morse said.
Hegseth’suse of Signal and the sharing of suchplans areunderinvestigation by the Defense Department’sacting inspector general.It came at therequest of theleadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee —Republican Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippiand ranking Democraticmember Jack Reed of Rhode Island
The new revelations comeamid furtherturmoil at the Pentagon Fourofficials in Hegseth’sinner circle departedlastweek as the Pentagon conducts awidespread investigation forinformation leaks. DanCaldwell, aHegseth aide;Colin Carroll, chiefofstafftoDeputy DefenseSecretaryStephenFeinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s deputychiefofstaff, were escorted outofthe Pentagon.
much to alter estimates quite abit, and that projections should be takenwith“abig grain of salt.”
First-quarter projections for homicides in 2024 seemed to showthe parish would exceed 2021, its deadliest year on record. In actuality,2024 ended with 36 fewer homicides overall.
Whilesummerwould seem to bring factors forhigher homicide numbers —no school, warmer nights and morepeople outside —the resultshavenot been as clear cut most years. Both 2022 and2024 sawearly winter as the deadliest period.
“You go through the months from past years, there aresome where it just doesn’thappen,” Moore said,pointingtolow summerhomicide counts in 2019.
“There’sreally not arhyme or reason.”
One change that Morse thinks could affect homicide numbers in 2025 is the budget deficit of more than $9 million that hisdepartment is facing. Without that money,Morse said, BRPD has hadtostopsending officers out on overtimepatrols into areas of the city that the department sees as “high crime.”
That change could be more significant than the end of BRPD’sMounted Patrol division andthe ShotSpotterprogram,bothofwhich have been cut this year due to budget restraints. Morse said he hasbeenin conversation with the Mayor’sOffice to see how the city mightfind fundingtoreturn the overtimepatrols.
By Amanda McElfresh, amcelfresh@theadvocate.com
Thesummermay be around thecorner, butatSouthernUniversity, theworkto supportJaguarstudent-athletesnever stops. In fact,supportersand staffare hard at work to preparefor twosignature events in August
TheThird Annual Southern University Athletics Gala will take placeonSaturday, August16atthe RaisingCane’sRiver Center in BatonRouge.Sponsorships, tables andindividualtickets arenow availableathttps://foundation.sus.edu/ southern-university-athletics-gala/. Proceeds from theGalasupport scholarshipsfor Jaguar student-athletes,enhance recruitefforts andexperiences,allow for renovationsand upgrades to Southern University Athleticsfacilitiesand provide fundingfor theuniversitytopurchase up-to-date equipmentand technology for sports teamsand departments.
“The Gala is thestart of thebesttimeof theyearatSouthernUniversitybecause it takesplace just before thestart of the football season,” said Tracie Woods, a co-chair of this year’s Gala.“We arejust so excited. It’s become oneofthe best events of theyearinBaton Rouge.
Asidefromthe Gala,Southernwillalso host itsFourthAnnualGolfTournament fundraiser on Monday,August11atUniversity Club BatonRouge.Organizersexpect up to 135local golferstoparticipate this year.The eventfeaturesfoodfromlocal restaurants, spiritsand thepromise that no onegoeshomeempty-handed.
“Every year it gets better andbetter,” said MatthewValliere, oneofthe Tourna-
ment organizers.Vallieresaidthisyear’s participants will have thechancetowalk away with aportion of more than $7,000 in prizes,including golf gear,apparel andcash.
“Wenever have someoneleave without somethingintheir hand andasmile on theirface,”hesaid.
Valliere is also aco-chairofthisyear’s Gala,along with Woods.
“These arebothfundraising events that help payfor scholarships andtoimprove thestudent-athlete experience,aswell as theoverall fanexperienceatvarious sportingvenuesthatwehave here on campus,” he said By attendingand promotingeventslike theGalaand Golf Tournament,fanshelp ensure that Southern University Jaguar student-athletes have theresources they need to succeedonand off thefield. They also create opportunitiesfor students, alumni andsupporterstoconnect,celebratesharedachievementsand help Jaguar programs grow Visitwww.gojagsports.com formore information on athleticsatSouthern University
Scan to Watch
in some cases for their speech.
The complex is one of several privately run facilities under contracts with ICE that have made Louisiana the second-leading state for U.S immigrant detainees, behind only Texas. About 7,000 detainees are being held in the Pelican State.
Advocates forKhalil and other recent detainees say they’ve beenspirited to remote areas like Jena with a purpose: to confound access to their lawyers and challenges to deportation. Advocacy groups have chronicled what they call inhumane,prisonlike conditions inside the Jena facility,which houses more than 1,100 immigrant detainees, the most in the state Whathappens behind the barbed wire along Pinehill Roaddoesn’tconcern too many locals, said Rodney Begnaud, aretired Pentecostal pastor,ashesat in adowntown barber shop.
“I realize they’re there because Isee their buses,” he said. “Mostly it’sthe logging businessand hunting.Most everything elsedoesn’t matter that much.”
In LaSalle Parish, where 91% of votersfavored Trump last year,the facility runby the GEO Group, called the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center,has become asignificant and largely unbothered presence.
The company,which declined to comment for this story,isthe third-leading taxpayerinthe parish, at just under $1 million last yearin an agreement with the assessor.The facility accounts for about 6% of parish property taxes.
The GEO Group also employs afew hundred people at coveted pay rates,residents said. Some Jena leaders point to aset of $1,000 scholarships the company fundseach year for high school seniors in a town of about 4,000 residents.
The company is the primary source of revenue for
theLaSalle Economic Development District, which is aparty to theagreement between GEO Group and ICE to operate the complex. District audits show the facility runs on $40millionannually
Thedeal doesn’trequire localapproval for how thedetention center operates.
“I’ll leave the management endtoGEO andICE,” said Walter Dorroh, alocal attorneywho has headed theeconomicdevelopmentdistrict forthree decades.
“I certainly don’twant to be doinganythingthat’sinappropriate, dishonestormistreatinganybody.But we’ve never heardofany problemthere at all.”
Dorrohsaid hewas not familiar with aseries of reports critical of thetreatmentof thedetainees inside the Jena complexand others.
Fillinganeconomicvoid
To hearDorrohtellit, GEO hasbeen an important if not
crucial businessfor the parish, operating afacility that came aboutlargely as aresult of bad economic luck.
Theparishsuffered adebilitatingone-twopunchinthe late 1980s when its twomajor industries— oil andtimber tanked. Twolocal banks went belly up, Dorroh said.
Apush to diversify eventually brought ajuvenile detention center runbyWackenhut Corrections Corp., which later became theGEO Group.
It was billed then as stateof-the-art. But news reports soon chronicled abuses by guards inside the$16 million juvenile lockup,which employed about 160 people when it shuttered in 2000 after only afew years.
The property wasmothballed until 2007, when officials announced the newICE contract anda $30 millionexpansioninto an all-inclusive immigrant detention camp, transforming anarrow dirt pass.
Now,ICE buseswithno windows share rural byways withtimber trucks as they shuttle detainees about an hour to and from Alexandria, where ICE runs the only immigrationjail in the U.S. that is directly connected to an airport.
Not all locals are keen on thesituation in Jena,where “A Nice Place to Call Home” is the town slogan. “I find it strange they put afacility like that in asmall
town. Just the placement. We’re notequipped,”said Hailey Loveasz, a30-year-old stay-at-home mom wholives in Jena.
“Welive in the DeepSouth. Ifeel likethis town hashad alot of drama. It’s putonthe map for the wrong reasons. It kind of makes us an infamous town.”
Atroubledhistory
Thetroubles that shut down thejuvenile detention center in 2000 preceded afar biggerscandalinJena six years later
In the “Jena Six” case, six Black teens wereconvicted of simple battery in the 2006 beating of aWhitestudent at JenaHigh School in what was widely viewed as racially fueled violence. Some of the teens were initially charged with attempted second-degreemurder, which captured nationalattention —and backlash.
To somelocals, what ensued wasa Jena miscast by famed the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and others whoarrived in September 2007 to protest.Anestimated 15,000 or morepeople came —four timesthe town population.
It was only afew weeks beforethe protest that officials unfurled the deal to expand theformer juvenile facility into afull-scale federal immigration detentioncenter.It’s nowthe largest ICEdetention center in the state by population, according to Marchdata from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University
The Jena complex was among the subjects of areport last year by advocacy groups that found “rampant abuse” within U.S. immigration detentionfacilitiesin Louisiana.
The report described in detail the death of Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra at LaSalle General HospitalinJune 2023 of cardiacarrest. The 42-yearoldNicaraguanasylum-seeker hadbeen detained there for more than ayear andwas recommended for release.
A2021 study by Tulane University’s ImmigrantRights Clinic found “prolonged and punitive”detention of immigrants who land in Jenaor otherICE facilities in Louisiana, with little chance of successontheir pleas for relief. That’swhy advocates say theTrump administration hassought to transferthe petitions of Khalil and others to Louisiana courts —and why their attorneys have fought back Khalil’s arrest wasthe first of several attempted deportations of foreign-born students whojoined pro-Palestinian protests or expressed criticism of Israel, or who authorities say pose anational security concern. So far,the immigration court within the Jena compound hasappeared to side with the administration. An immigration judge on April 10 declared Khalil deportable as anational security risk, in response to adeclarationfromU.S. Secretary of State MarcoRubio.The judge,Jamee E. Comans, found that the government had established that Khalil being in theU.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences,” according to The Associated Press. Adifferent judge in Jena denied bail Thursday to Alireza Doroudi, a32-year-old doctorate student in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama. Doroudi wasarrested last month in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and brought to thesamefacility. Immigration Judge Maithe Gonzálezruledhim aflight risk with few community ties andfound he failedto prove he was nota threat to national security,according to AL.com. Doroudi, whoentered the U.S. on astudent visa,faces deportationtoIran, saidhis attorney,David Rozas, who has pledged to appeal the ruling. Landing them in remote detention centers like the one in
Jena appearsaimed at making communication moredifficult, said Rozas, who runs a large immigration practice in Louisiana.
“They’re in prison, in a room with like 60 to 80 people in some instances. It’sanactual prison, not like adetention center,” said Rozas. He described Doroudi as “crème de la crème” in academia,abeloved university studentbeing treated contrary to ICEpolicies.
“You move him 600 miles away from any support, with little to no access, to force him, to break him, to want to give up,” Rozas said. “This whole idea of self-deportation and(to) just leavewithout putting up afight —it’sappalling.”
Khalil’sattorneys describedhim as sleeping “in abunkerwithout apillow or blanket” inside the Jena compound.
“It’sabout being in the middle of nowhere,” Rozas said. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
The facilityisfar fromout of sight for Cheryl Lindloff, who livesdown the street, sellingherbs outofa shop she built in her driveway What concerns her mostare escapes, she said, though officialssaidit’snever happened.
“As long as they’re kept undercontrol, they’re fine,but there’salwaysthe niggling in thebackofyourmind,” she said. “It would be niceto know who’sthere, and why they’re there. They give little to no information at all.”
From what Bernell Wiley sees, what’shappening in the woods afew miles away doesn’tsit well.
Wiley,58, said he once held ajob as aguard at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where “they didn’t put them in there forringing church bells too loud.” He said he doesn’tsupport what he’sheard for why Khalil and others landed in his community —not for crimes.Wileypointed to a photo of his grandfather,a military veteran, on the wall. “He didn’tfight forthis mess,” Wiley said. “What are they holding them for? It affects us no matter what.”
information about the vast civilization depended upon arduous expeditions that, it turns out, missed wide swaths of gardens and terraces, houses and yards
Not only the pyramids, but the neighborhoods.
Archaeologists are now studying images made via LIDAR, which uses laser pulses fired from a plane, to uncover structures swallowed by foliage, giving scientists a kind of X-ray vision. And the Tulane research center, which in March celebrated its 100year anniversary with a symposium and a new exhibition, is at the center of a burst of new research.
“In 100 years, we had done about 1,000 square kilometers of survey mapping plus or minus,” said Canuto, who has led MARI since 2009. “In the last 10 years, we now have data for about 10,000 square kilometers. So in a tenth of the time, we have 100 more times more data. It’s a scale of a thousand.”
In October, the journal Antiquity published a study by Luke Auld-Thomas, a former Tulane doctoral student, and Canuto, his doctoral adviser, uncover-
Continued from page 1A
But people in rural areas, many who might otherwise support new industrial and oil and gas proposals, are fighting plans to put carbon dioxide under their land, and their representatives in the state Legislature have launched a major effort to more strictly regulate or even block carbon storage.
The House Natural Resources Committee is expected to tackle close to two dozen bills in a potentially marathon hearing at the end of the month. The chair of the committee, Rep. Brett Geymann, a Lake Charles Republican, predicts it could be a “wild ride.”
In an opening move before that intense debate, a Senate committee unanimously blessed a bill that Geymann and his Senate counterpart Bob Hensgens, an Abbeville Republican, hope could be a compromise to measures aimed at blocking underground carbon storage. The committee-approved bill would give local concerns some weight in the state permitting process.
In a public discussion on carbon capture earlier this month, Geymann and Hensgens said the bill from Republican Sen. Mike Reese, of Leesville, will be important when House debate opens up. Geymann predicted that passing “local option” bills will be challenging.
”But the people want that,” Geymann said. “They want to have that discussion We’re going to have that discussion.”
Several bills, including
ing a Maya city, which they dubbed Valeriana, complete with plazas, causeways and ball courts. The site was completely canopied in an area that, today, is lightly populated.
It was just the latest of several studies to map a clearer more complex picture of the Maya.
Just browsing Auld-Thomas found the LIDAR images on “the digital equivalent of a high, dusty shelf,” he said. It was 2018, and AuldThomas was in Guatemala City, doing field work that would become the basis of his dissertation. He was supposed to be looking at ceramics, “but in classic gradschool fashion, I was doing something else.” He’d read an article analyzing environmental LIDAR data captured by NASA and figured, where there’s one, there’s more. So he started Googling, and several pages deep, found LIDAR images collected for a forest monitoring project in 2013 and released online for free.
He zoomed into an area of Campeche, Mexico, where Mayanists had long suspected there might be settlements but where there hadn’t been much research, “not for lack of interest, but because there are only so many Mayanists to go around.”
House Bill 4 by Republican Rep. Chuck Owen, of Rosepine, would give police juries or voters the ability to block carbon storage in their parishes, in a fashion similar to local-option elections on video poker in 1996.
State Rep. Danny McCormick, a Republican from Oil City who has spent his private career in the oil and gas business, has taken a tougher tack. He’s filed one bill to ban carbon capture statewide and another to declare a one-year moratorium.
Concern over leaks McCormick, Owen and others are responding to constituents worried about permanent storage polluting underground drinking water supplies and about carbon dioxide leaks from pipelines.
And some property owners are concerned that carbon storage zones could block drilling for deeper oil and natural gas deposits under their lands and interfere with basic property rights.
They point out these rural areas generally aren’t getting the new plants, tax revenue and jobs from carbon capture — the facilities are located primarily in other parts of the state — but are being saddled with the pipelines and underground storage areas and any associated risks.
“We’re in a unique position, I think, where we are in the state,” Reese said. “Because we don’t really have emitters of CO2, right, but we have multiple projects that seek to store CO2 in our area. It’s not something our citizens are comfortable with.”
Industry and academic experts say the technology is safe and largely relies on existing methods, putting car-
As soon as he opened the 3D images, he knew Rising from even the “quick and dirty” versions of the files was “a big, conspicuous city.”
Thus began a project “that is only really possible in a place like MARI,” said AuldThomas, now a faculty member with Northern Arizona University The research center is “the last of its kind — not to make it sound like a dinosaur but to describe it as a resilient holdout. A survivor.”
That survival is partly due to Canuto, Auld-Thomas said, who “in addition to being a really creative and prolific researcher is also very, very much an institutionalist.”
And he inherited quite the institution.
In 1923, The New York Times announced that Tulane would establish a department focused on “Middle America,” studying “the language and history of the founder of Central America as well as conduct expeditions to that country.” (The center preceded the term “Mesoamerica.”)
The effort was buoyed by New Orleans businessman Samuel Zemurray, president of the Cuyamel Fruit Company, who donated $300,000, more than $5 million in today’s dollars.
The research center’s first director, William Gates, had more than scientific research in mind, as Canuto wrote in
bon dioxide back into formations that can naturally store the gas once it’s converted into a near-liquid state. Industry groups add that Louisiana is primed for the new industry it will draw but is also competing with other states to be the technology’s leader While the state Office of Conservation has approved carbon-capture “exploratory” wells to evaluate underground conditions, no actual injection wells or storage operations have been greenlit
The state’s first hearing on an injection well is set for May in Cameron Parish.
Reese’s Senate Bill 73 would fit into that process by requiring the state conservation commissioner to give “substantial consideration to local government comments” on carbon injection well permits.
The bill wouldn’t require the state to act on those comments. But during the recent Senate committee hearing on Reese’s bill, he said the “substantial consideration” language was taken from the process for coastal zone permits.
Reese said some of those permits were denied after local officials spoke against them. He said his bill attempts to replicate that, giving local concerns similar weight for carbon-capture permitting.
Reese’s bill has drawn opposition from a Louisiana climate group and trade associations representing the chemical and oil and gas industries. The trade groups are also against bills proposing more rigorous restrictions on carbon capture.
In an interview, Hensgens said he believes Reese’s bill, which is headed for a Senate floor vote Tuesday so it can
an article for the Society for American Archaeology In a letter to the Tulane president, Gates spelled out “his vision of gathering ‘information useful to the Port of New Orleans, and the business that lies behind it.’”
Soon, and under new leadership, the center embarked on important “and often arduous” field expeditions, Canuto wrote, to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. On their first expedition, MARI researchers in Mexico discovered a giant stone head a major Olmec monument.
“And a golden age of research at Tulane was inaugurated.”
Much of that research focused on the Maya, who before the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America, built distinct and sophisticated societies reflected in their iconography, art and architecture. And, it turns out, how they shaped the land.
‘My jaw dropped’
When Canuto came to Tulane from Yale University in 2009, he rebooted the place. Renovations to Dinwiddie Hall followed, with better more accessible storage for the center’s collection, including 35,000 objects and 100,000 photographs On a recent morning, in the bright, clean collections room, six colorful textiles were spread out across a table, anticipating a visit from an art history
reach the House, strikes the right balance.
“I think in a very difficult situation and a very difficult subject this year, Sen. Reese has found a middle ground between saying how important carbon capture is going to be to our energy industry and keeping the locals and the public informed and giving them some say-so about what happens,” Hensgens said.
‘Let the parishes decide’ Reese, however, said he doesn’t see his bill as a middle ground alternative but an addition to measures that would give locals an actual vote on whether to allow carbon cap-
student.
The institute has a long tradition of cartographic analysis, and one of Canuto’s own specialties as an archaeologist was settlement pattern analysis — less excavating and more surveying.
So one of his interests was GIS, or geographic information systems. As a technology, LIDAR, short for “light detection and ranging,” wasn’t new It had been used by architects, meteorologists and astronauts. But over the past 15 years, it’s become more available and less expensive. By being able to survey much larger swaths of land, LIDAR solves a conundrum Canuto, who grew up in Manhattan, describes as the Central Park problem.
Say you’re a researcher with the ability to see only a few yards ahead of you. If you were to drop into Central Park, with the goal of understanding the people who once lived in New York City you might spend weeks in the park and return to write a paper about how this population of people had no settlements, all along, there were skyscrapers just a few meters away
Archaeologists are still trekking into the jungle, of course. But now with LIDAR, they’re headed toward a specific site, with a specific purpose.
In 2016, the research in-
ture in their communities. He said he would “vote for every one” of those “local option” bills.
He called his bill on local government input for state hearings “just one more layer of protection that’ll hopefully complement the work that they’re doing in the House.”
Roland Hollins, an Allen Parish police juror who leads a collection of southwest Louisiana officials opposed to carbon capture, said he appreciates Reese’s bill.
It would give local governments more say than they have currently over a process that is moving quickly into their communities, he said.
stitute received its first sets of LIDAR data from a project funded by Pacunam, a Guatemalan foundation that preserves Maya cultural heritage. A few researchers gathered in the GIS lab to open the LIDAR files. “My jaw dropped many times,” Francisco Estrada-Bell, a research professor in archaeology at the Middle American Research Institute, would later tell The New York Times. “It was just four of us at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, right?” Canuto said, telling the story in that same dark lab, lined with computer monitors, a decade later But as the images lit up the screens, a few more Ph.D. students joined, then a few more. Then, suddenly, it was 5 p.m., and the small room was packed with dozens of students and professors. In detailed 3D, they saw site after site, city after city Houses and highways, terraces and irrigation systems. It would lead to a groundbreaking 2018 paper suggesting that millions more people lived in the Mayan region than previously thought. At one point, as they studied the images, Canuto cleared his throat. “Stop, everyone,” he began. “Just appreciate that we have now seen, in the last three hours, more than the entire discipline has seen in the last 100 years.”
But he added that the parish coalition he’s a part of doesn’t want just half or three-quarters authority over the issue. He said his parish asked Gov Jeff Landry to halt the carbon sequestration permitting process this spring while so many bills are pending in the Legislature. A public hearing for two new exploratory wells in Allen Parish is planned later this month Locals should have the final say, Hollins said. “Let the parishes decide,” he said. “I don’t know of a more American way than to let the people decide if the benefits are worth the risks, you know.”
BY AIDAN MCCAHILL Staff writer
Acarbon monoxide leak at the West Feliciana Parish jail forced afull evacuation of staff and inmatesSaturday morning, sending at least onecorrectional officer to the
Baton Rouge police homicide detectives are investigatinganofficerinvolved shootingthat occurred early Sunday morning.
At 3:04 a.m., uniformed officers with the Baton Rouge Police Department responded to adispatched call reporting adisturbance involving an armed male at the Super6 Inns andSuites, 9901 Gwenadele Ave.
CRIME BLOTTER staff reports
There, officers encountered a34-yearold man in the parking lot, and an exchange of gunfire broke out. The man was struckduring the encounter and was transported to a hospital,where he was pronounced deceased, BRPD reported.
No officers were injured during the incident.
In accordance with standard Police Department policy,the two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, thedepartment said.
In the past,StatePolice have investigated BatonRouge officer-involved shootings to provideindependent oversight, but Sunday morning’sshooting will remain an internal investigation, said Lt. L’Jean McKneely Jr., adepartment spokesperson.
“Sometimes we may ask for assistance, andsometimes we don’t,” he said.
One bookedonsuspicion of DWIinEastBatonRouge
One person was booked into theEast Baton Rouge Parish Prison between noon Saturday and noon Sundayon suspicion of driving while intoxicated Aireal Cameron, 34, of Baton Rouge, was booked on onecountoffirst-offense DWI and reckless operation of avehicle.
BYCOURTNEYPEDERSEN
Staff writer
Lake Charles residents haveseen
traffic buildups and delays on Interstate 210 during the pastmonth, and the congestion likely won’tend anytime soon.
John Guidroz, spokesperson for the state DepartmentofTransportation and Development in Lake Charles, said ongoing work on the I-210 bridge is expected to continuefor several more months.
In mid-March, an $8.1 million project began to repair,replace and upgrade the lighting on the I-210 roadway and bridge after damage from Hurricane Laura in 2020, Guidroz said “This new lighting system includes structural and lighting upgrades from the previous system,” Guidroz said.
The projectisexpectedtobecompleted by the end of September
Guidroz said drivers can expect the left lane of the I-210 westbridge over Prien Lake to remain closed for the project’sduration. The lane closure is from exit 3tomile marker 1, just east of Cove Lane. However,Guidroz said the Cove Lane exit willremain openas theworkisbeing completed
“DOTD will issue press releases and notifications as closures are scheduled,” Guidroz said. “DOTD encourages the public to register for MyDOTD to receive thesenotices, or check 511la.org for the latest traffic updates.”
hospital
The leak was discoveredearly Saturdayafter multiple inmates and staffreportedfeelingsick Everyone inside was treated and evaluated by medical staff, accordingtoaFacebookpostfrom theWestFelicianaParish Sheriff’s Office.
“Thehealthand safety of our staff and theinmatepopulation is ourmain concern at this time,” Sheriff Brian Spillmansaidinthe post. “We’re going to make sure everyone receives theproper care and then we’ll address the facility.Wehaveplans in place to relocate andare in the process of
initializingthoseplans now.”
Spillman said the jail hasn’treceived many upgrades since it was built in 1948.
“This is an example of the daily problems we tackle with an aged and outdated facility. We,asa parish, need to seriously focus on anew and functional jail to pro-
vide for the safety and well being of those we must incarcerate.”
On Saturday,some of the inmates were relocated to another jail. Citing safety and security reasons, Spillman did not reveal the number of inmates being transferred or where theywill be temporarily housed.
Abackhoe from Sevenson Environmental moves muck from a barge to the sanctuary area during dredging work on the University Lakes Project recently in Baton Rouge.
says NewIberia mine implemented upgrades
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
After nearly 21/2 years of regulatory scrutiny and upgrades, the Morton Salt mine in New Iberia hasbeenremoved from a“safety watch” after improving its compliancewith federal rules, U.S. officials said. In December 2022, theU.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, the workplace safety regulator forminers, placed the MortonSalt mine inside the Weeks Island salt dome under
greater scrutiny fora series of violationsthatcould have resulted in serious employeeinjuries. Morton Salt,which operates theWeeks Island Mine and Mill, implemented measures that led to better workplace conditions,MSHAofficials said.
“Werecognize the efforts made by Weeks Island Mine and Mill to take the corrective actionsneeded,” Melanie Calhoun, MSHA’s acting deputyassistant secretary foroperations, saidin astatement. “Theyhave created asafer working environment for their miners.”
MSHA officials declined to comment in detail on what changesMortonSalthas made at the mine. Morton Salt officials andrepresentatives of the miners’ unionhavenot responded to
requests forcomment.
The end of the watchstatus came three months after the mine hada small fire tiedtoan equipment breakdown. No one wasinjured
Also, since early December 2004, five employees have received injuries that caused time away from thejob or limited workduties at Morton Salt, including slips and falls that tore athigh muscle and an Achillestendon, atwisted back and apunch that broke a jaw
The fireand injuriesunrelated to the firedid not appeartobe tied to anynotices of seriousviolations fromMSHA,according to an agency database. The “pattern of violations” noticethattriggeredthe earlier safety watchrevolved around
mine shaft roofsand walls and the prevention of potentially deadly mine collapses, agency officials said.
Apattern of violations amounts to aserious warning with the threat of apotential halt of mining in areas wheresafetyproblems are found.
The notice was thefirst MSHA hadissuedagainst aminingoperation since2014.Atthe time agency officials said the Morton Salt mine wasachronic violator that demonstrated “a disregard forthe health andsafety of miners.”
The mine has employed between150and230peopleinrecent years, MSHAdata show. Though knownfor table salt, the company also sells salttode-iceroads in cold climates,the company says.
ten, however,wheninspectors deny entry for food, the shipper retainsthe product and sometry again at adifferent port in hopes of finding more laxornoinspections.
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON— Though they barely agree on anything politically, Democratic Rep.Troy Carter, of New Orleans, and Republican Rep. Clay Higgins, of Lafayette, came together in an attemptto heighten the regulatory wall protecting Louisiana’sseafood industry from foreign imports They introduced legislation Wednesday that givesthe federal Food and Drug Administration additional powers to impoundand destroyimported seafood found contaminated, adulterated or misbranded.
“This bill protectsconsumers from potential health risksand upholds the integrity of our food supply chain, while supporting Louisiana fishermen andseafood processors,” Carter said. “By granting the FDA the necessary authority to destroyfood productsthat failtomeet our strict health andsafety standards, we are closingadangerous loophole that has allowed contaminated seafoodtoenter our markets.”
TheFDA alreadyhas theauthority to seize and destroy food, drugs and other products thatare “adulterated or misbranded.” Of-
TheHiggins-Carter proposal changes wording in thelaw that allows the FDA greater leeway to impoundand destroyseafood imports that are refused.
“Billions of pounds of uninspected seafood continue to enter ourcountry,causing major health concerns,” Higgins said. “In my opinion, foreign products don’t even come close to the quality of Louisianaseafood.Thislegislation provides the FDA with the authority to destroy illegal seafood imports and ensures thatcontaminated products don’treach American markets.”
AFebruary 2023 FDAreport noted that importedseafood mostlyshrimp, salmonand tilapia —accountedfor 94% of the seafood sold in theUnited States. America alsoimports55% of its fresh fruits and 32% of thefresh vegetables consumed.
Much of theimported seafood comes from India, Chinaand Southeast Asia and is raisedby aquaculture. Those facilitiesoften use drugs and chemicals to avoid disease.
The United States Government AccountabilityOffice, an independent, nonpartisan agency that provides audits forCongress,has been warning for years that FDA inspections havenot been keep-
ing up withincreasing imports of seafood being brought into the country forsaletoAmerican consumers. AGAO report in January determinedthatthe FDAhad notmet itsdomestic and foreign inspection targets since 2018.
“For foreign facility inspections, FDA conductedfar fewer than the annualtargetof19,200 inspections,” the GAOreported. With only 432investigatorsas of July 2024, FDA officials don’t consider the target achievable, theGAO reported. Only 2% of seafood was inspected coming into the United States and 0.1% of that amount wassampled fordrugs/antibiotics. Of the shrimp sampled for drugs and antibiotics, 12.2% showed positive for drug residue, a2017 GAOreport stated. The GAOrecommended congressional legislation. Though the report is from 2017, theSouthern ShrimpAlliance has used freedom of information requests to keep tabs on the inspections and found that less imported seafood is beingsampled these days.
“Imported shrimp and seafood products that are potentially dangerous forconsumers need to be destroyed,” said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. Based in Tarpon Springs, Florida, the alliancerepresents shrimpers and processors in eight warm-water shrimp-producing states, includ-
ing Louisiana.
“Giving theseproducts back to the foreign shipperdoes little to incentivize themtoaddress safety problems before shipping products to this country,” Williamssaid.
As part of the Trumpadministration’s effort to decrease the size of the federal government, the Department of Health and HumanResources is in the process of laying off about 10,000 employees, including some3,500 FDAworkers. Health SecretaryRobertF Kennedy Jr.said earlier this month that he is trying to rehire someofthose whose jobs were terminated.
Carter and Higgins’ legislation has along way to go before becoming law. Thebillfirst needs to be vetted and approved by the Housecommittee. Thenitmust pass the full House before the Senate can consider the legislation.
Fargason,Anne
OurLadyofthe Lake Catholic Church, 312Lafitte Street in Mandeville,at11a.m
Landry, Margaret St.Thomas More Catholic Church 11441 Goodwood Boulevard, at 2:30 p.m
Latour,Denise
St.JosephCatholic Church,255 N 8th Street,Ponchatoula, Louisianaat
11am
Leteff Sr., Warren Greenoaks FuneralHome, 9595 FloridaBoulevard, at 2p.m
Obituaries
BerthelotSr.,Reverend Willie Mayo
Reverend Willie Mayo Berthelot,Sr.,93years old, was called to be with his Lordand Savior,Jesus Christ, on April17, 2025. He entered this worldonApril 12, 1932, born to Mary Edith and Joseph Berthelot, Sr., inMorganza, LA.Willie honorably served hiscoun‐try in theUnitedStates Navy. He wasa Deacon and faithfulmemberof St Isidore Catholic Church Willie is survived by his lovingand devotedwifeof 73years,Helen Bordelon Berthelot,and histen chil‐dren: Willie "Billy"Berth‐elot, Jr.(Ann),Gayle Berth‐elotBroussard (Steve), Jeff Berthelot,Tommy Berth‐elot(SueEllen), Denise Berthelot (Audrey), ChristieBerthelot Zeringue, Jack Berthelot (Tonya),Brent Berthelot (Suzanne), BrianBerthelot (Hillary),MichelleBerth‐elotWyble;40+ grandchil‐drenand great-grandchil‐dren; onebrother-in-law and ahostofniecesand nephews.Willieispre‐ceded in deathbyhis par‐ents, brotherand five sis‐ters, as well as many brothers-in-law andsis‐ters-in-law;sons-in-law, HerbZeringueand Jamie Wyble.Serving as pallbear‐ers will be Willie's grand‐sonsMark, Joshua K., Joshua R.,Hunter,Hayden andJustin. Honorary pall‐
bearerswillbeAndrewand ParkerBerthelot.Relatives and friendsare invitedto jointhe familyfor thevisi‐tationatBaker Funeral Home, 6401 Groom Road, Baker,LA, on Tuesday, April 22, from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Thevisita‐tionwillcontinue at St Isidore Catholic Church 5657 Thomas Road,Baton Rouge,LA, on Wednesday April 23, from 9:00 a.m. until theMassofChristian Burialat 11:00 a.m.,offici‐atedbyFatherFrank Bass The gravesideservice with militaryhonorswillfollow atHillcrest Memorial Gar‐densMausoleum,inBaker, Louisiana.The family would like to expresstheir gratitudetothe Home In‐stead Care Pros as well as tothe nursesand aids with Clarity Hospicewho pro‐vided such compassionate and loving care to ourpre‐cious father.Inlieuof plantsand flowers, please considerdonatingtoyour favoritecharity.Please visit www.bakerfunera lhomeonline.com to sign and leavea messageon the digitalguestbook or to send flowerstothe family in memory of Willie M. Berthelot,Sr.
Dupuy, Delores Marie
Delores Marie Dupuy néeSmith, 77, diedinBaton Rouge on Thursday, April 10th, 2025. Bornthe third of four sisterson February 6th, 1948,Delores grew up on St.Catherine Avenue, parishioner of St. Gerard and student atRedemptorist.She fondly recalledplaying with dozens of cousins around her grandmother's houseon Lafayette Streetduringthe '50s. She worked forAT&T as atelephone operator in Baton Rouge and Mobile, AL until marrying on October 5th, 1974,undertaking motherhood as her vocation,and observantly raising herfamilyinSt. Louis, KingofFranceparish.Loyal wifeand devoted mother,all fondly rememberher as akind, gracious, and demure hostess of innumerable family events,particu-
larlyChristmas Eve Delores is survivedby her sisters, Sister Jean Marie Smith,SSND, Catherine Louise Edwards,and Frances MarionLocker; Charles EugeneEdwards who introduced Delores to her husband;her five children Richard Craig,Jr. (Kerry),AdamJoseph, Sr. (Hope), ChristopherAllen (Tammy), Bernadette Elizabeth, and Max Elliot; grandsons Adam Joseph, Jr., Daniel Jeffrey, and Galen Conrad Diderot Dupuy; and innumerable nieces, nephews, and cousins.She was preceded in death by her husband, R. CraigDupuy, Sr.; her parents, Jean FrancoisSmith and Edna Marie Smith née Rodriguez;and brother-inlawDarrellPaulLocker.
Her funeralmass will be held at St. Thomas More on Friday, April 25that2 PM preceded by ahalfhour visitation, followedbya serviceatthe mausoleum chapel at Greenoaks Memorial Park, and then at 4:30 PM by arepast at Lake HouseReception Center.
Shanitra A. Marshall en‐tered into eternalrestat her residencein Prairieville, Louisianaon April 12, 2025. Shewas a 48-year oldnativeofBaton Rouge,Louisiana andan Auditor forthe Internal Revenue Service. Viewing atInterdenominational Faith Assembly on Tues‐day,April 22, 2025 at 9:00 amuntil CelebrationofLife Service at 11:00 am con‐ductedbyRev.Gueverra Johnson;interment at SouthernMemorialMau‐soleum. Survivorsinclude her loving anddevoted husband,Patrick Marshall; son,DillonMarshall; sib‐lings,KendrickDowns (La‐trisa), Lawton,Oklahoma; Christopher Downs,West Monroe, Louisiana; MitchellDavis,PortAllen, Louisiana;Davis (Tricia), Baton Rouge; andLisa Macintosh (Rondell),De‐catur,Georgia;mother/fa‐ther-in-law, Juliaand Al‐
fred Marshall, Sr.; broth‐ers-in-law, Alfred Marshall Jrl.(Cynthia) andChristo‐pherMarshall(Quenshell) Walker, Louisiana; other relatives andfriends;pre‐ceded in deathbyher son, LandonMarshall. Arrange‐ments entrustedtoMiller & Daughter Mortuary
TODAY Reporting you can trust on stories that matter
At the end of February, State Public Defender Rémy Starns notified five of the 37 district defenders that their contractswould not be renewed. Over thelast several years, oversight and governance of the Louisiana public defender system, which handles almost 90% of criminal defendants in the state, has been transferred from aboard appointed by various constituencies —including academics, publicdefenders, the state Supreme Court and thegovernor —toadepartment headed by Starns and included within the executive branch. There is areason the federal public defender system is ensconced in the judiciary.That reasonispolitical independence. The chief public defender in every district is appointed by the court of appeal in which the district is located, insulatingthe public defender from the wrath or gratitude of the district court judges before whom he practices. So when the five state public defenders who recently received termination notices drew attention to themselves by criticizing Starns’plans for the statewide system, they placed targetson themselves. And for voicingtheir concerns, their contracts were not renewed. Who said this was legal? Well, Starns went to Liz Murrill’soffice. Youremember her,she’sour attorney general, aprosecutor and formerly the second-in-command to Jeff Landry,the governor who appointed Starns. From that little circle came the attorney general’s opinion saying Starns could simply not renewcontracts and didn’t have to give any reasons.
Ihave adog in this fight. As apublic defender who handled regular felony trials, capital trials and appeals for over 40 years, I care what happens to the system so painstakingly built. Butevery one of us concerned for the honestyand competency of our justice system has adog in this fight Butthere’sonly afight because Landry took his attack dog offthe leash.
DWIGHT DOSKEY Covington
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR
AREWELCOME.HEREARE
On Sept. 8, 2007, Ireturned to the United Statesafterasix-month deployment in Iraq. Ivividly recall landing at Baltimore-Washington Airport,still in my desert fatigues, exhausted,yet excited to watch the LSU vs. Virginia Tech game later that night As Iexited the plane, Iwas met withapplause and thanks from thepublic, amoment Iinitially took for granted. Years later,while watching Ken Burns’ documentary on the Vietnam War, Igrasped thesignificance of that reception. Unlike Vietnam veterans, who faced hostility upon their return, we were welcomed and appreciated, achange driven by their experiences. TheVietnam Wardeeply affected American society,leaving many veterans physically andmentally scarred. Vietnam veterans understood that future servicemembers would return home needing support for issues like PTSD and job placement. The foundingprinciple of theVietnam Veterans of America, “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another,” has ensured that subsequent service members received the recognition and assistance they lacked
On March 29, Louisianafinally honored the 885 Louisianans who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam. Amongthem are Captain Ralph Wayne “Hawkeye” Magee, whowas the first Louisianian to losehis life in the war, and First LieutenantSevero James “Sonny” Primm III, who was thelast Louisianan killed, days after the Paris Peace Accords were signed. Both men were Air Force pilots who were killed 12 years apart, and their stories highlight thewar’sprofound impact on families.
Louisiana’sofficial Vietnam Veteran Memorial stands as atestament to the sacrifices madeand theneed for recognition of all Vietnam veterans. It serves as areminder that they should never feel isolated or unappreciated. Their leadership andresilience are needed morethan ever in America today
Thank you to LakeCharles Mayor Nic Hunter,state Sen. JeremyStine and each person who supported the creation of this long-overdue memorial.
To theVietnam veterans, welcomehome!
CHARLTONJ.MEGINLEY secretary, Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs
Last month, the state of Louisiana committed murder.The governor promised it as part of his campaign pledge, the attorney general pushed it forward, judges signed off on it and astate executioner took ahuman being in full consciousness of what washappening to him, strapped him downonagurney, covered his face with amask and gassed him to death.
While Jessie HoffmanJr.’s violent crime 30 years ago was horrible, not one justification forhis ghastly execution is valid. It does not deter violent crime, it does not save the state money,nor does it serve as just punishment. In fact, it makes a mockery of justice, delegitimizing the legal system as awhole, and exposes the state’scapacity to do great and irreversible harm without any consequences.
Thankssomuch for publishing Sen. John Kennedy’s heartfelt paean to his beloved petrochemical industry
In this age of hook-up culture and marriages of convenience, it was heartwarming to read starry-eyed Kennedy’sunabashed expression of his deep and abiding devotion to liquefied natural gas. Older folkssay it reminded them of their long-gone passion for coal which, sadly,has fallen on hard times simply becauseitreleases greenhouse gases, desolates land and pollutesnatural waters.
generous campaign donation into Kennedy’s suit coat pocket thesame nightthat he slyly placed acolorful bouquet of allthe actions he’staken in Congress to let the petrochemical industry roam free as Godintended.
While mostpeople hopefully see the state’saction last month as beyond moral comprehension, it is also necessary to understand the political agenda that has brought us to these dark times. The moral responsibility forthis horror lies completely with the Republican Party —its politicians and the voters whoelect them to office. The ghastly execution at Angola demonstrates the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party in its current form starting from the top with Donald Trumpright down to the violently hypocritical Jeff Landry.Their political agenda that commits state-sanctioned murder while trying to force the TenCommandments into every classroom is dangerously delusional. Republican voters need to wakeupand see their own role in creating this moral problem,while Democrats need to double downontheir commitment to real social justice. The Republican Party has proven itself not only capable of threatening great harm to score cheap political points but also of following through with those threats to commit true crimes against humanity
ROBERT AZZARELLO NewOrleans
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The rumor amongromance fans is that Kennedy and LNG will soon wed. Washington gossipmavens whisper that asmitten andtrembling LNG slipped acutepink envelopecontaining alacy valentine and
No one will say how they know,but the rumor is that President Donald Trumpwill officiatethe Kennedy-LNG nuptials with Reps. Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise as groomsmen,Gov.Jeff Landry as ring bearer,U.S. Rep.Marjorie Taylor Greene as flower girl and U.S. Rep.Clay Higgins as altar boy Kennedy told LNG that Isle de Jean Charles would be anice honeymoon spot. LNG didn’telaborate, but responded, “How about somewhere in themountains?”
MARK MARLEY NewOrleans
Questionfor HandsOff! protestors: Who pays for all these government programs?
Answer: Hard-working families,business owners, loyal sports fans, patriotic military veterans, first responders and other taxpayers. They have to carry on theirbacks those unwilling to work and those who just want a free ride in life.
Alexander Fraser Tytler said, “A democracy cannot exist as apermanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that theycan votethemselves largesse from the public treasury.From that moment on, the
majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefitsfromthe public treasury with theresult that ademocracy always collapses over loose fiscalpolicy.”
We need to supportconservative leadership in cutting waste, fraud andabuse
Don’tbelieve the fears the news media spreads. PresidentDonald Trump will clean up, preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare, not eliminate or reduce them.
MIKECOON Lakeland,Florida formerBatonRougeresident
Litter cleanup is needed, but littering needs to be nipped in the bud. It should begin in preschool along with the ABCs. Enlightening children about their responsibility and respect for the ground we walkonand drive through gives them somecontrol over their environment. It will take years of highlighting. If this ethic is reinforced throughout their school life, it may becomeingrained. On the large scale, mostofusfeel helpless. On this scale, we can all makeadifference.
KATHLEEN
BIERMAN Baton Rouge
Jazz Fest is here again and it’stime to celebrate, dance, eat, drink and be happy! Have fun, everyone!
So,what’sgoing on in this cartoon? youtellme. Be witty, funny, crazy,absurd or snarky —justtry to keep it clean. There’snolimit on the numberofentries.
Thewinning punchline will be lettered into the word balloon andrun on Monday,April 28 in our print editions and online. In addition, the winner will receivea signed print of the cartoon along with acool winner’sT-shirt!
Some honorable mentions will also be listed. Emailyour entries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com DON’T FORGET!All entries must include your name, home address and phone number. Cell numbers are best.
Thedeadline for all entries is midnight on Thursday,April 24. Goodluck,folks! —Walt
Saturday was the 250th anniversary of the first day of the3,059-day warthat birthed the modern world. Commemorating the April 19, 1775, skirmishes at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge begins acelebration that will culminate July 4, 2026. These almost 15 months will inflame the perpetual scolds who, examining this nation’s history with adisapproving squint, see little to celebrate. In the half-century since the bicentennial, however many Americans havedeveloped adeeper,sturdier patriotism. They have benefited from historians whodemonstrate howmature minds can combine unblinking assessments of history’s inevitable mistakes, cruelties, tragedies and sorrowswith gratitude for those who persevered, and reverence for what they achieved: awonderfulnation.
nation’ssurvival beyond infancy
In 1925, Winston Churchill said, “In no field of man’sactivity is the tendencyofmass effects and the suppression of theindividual more evident than in modern war.”
As foreshadowed by 19th century Napoleonic Wars, when the battles of Austerlitz (1805) and Borodino (1812) involved 158,000 and250,000 troops, respectively
One such historian, Rick Atkinson, hasnow fired ashot heard ’round the world where scrupulously clear-eyed butrespectful American histories are savored. In 2019, he published “The British Are Coming,” which ended with the Jan. 3, 1777, Battle of Princeton. The final volume of his RevolutionTrilogy will perhaps coincide withthe 250th anniversary of the Oct. 19, 1781, world-turned-upside-down British surrender at Yorktown.
This year’svolume, “The Fate of theDay,” which ends in 1780 at Charleston, recounts the two stages of the battle of Saratoga (Sept. 19 andOct. 7, 1777), arguably this nation’smostimportant military triumph.
Victories at Gettysburg and Midway hastened the probable defeat of grave threats to the nation. Saratoga, by bringing France into the war on America’sside, assured the
TheRevolutionary War was premodern: At Saratoga, about 22,200 clashed, producingfewer than 1,500 dead and wounded. The war,far from being acollision of vast forces, was atheater of human agency —of unsuppressed individuals making choices based on principles.Ofthe roughly 200,000 who served in the patriotforces, only half were in Washington’sContinental Army,the rest in militias. Washington was not at Saratoga.
Desertions were almost ruinous Washington worried that “we shall be obliged to detach one-half of the army to bring back theother.” This waspartlydue to American individualism. Washington: “A people unused to restraint mustbeled, they will not be drove.”
Eighteenth-century Americans, lacking social media, Netflix and otherdistractions, wrote letters and diaries in profusion, astaggering number of which Atkinson has read Including those of Connecticut’sMosesDunbar
Dunbar wrote that he was “the second of sixteen children, all born to my Fatherbyone wife.” Dunbar himself had five children withhis first wife, and seven more with his second, Phebe. His fervent Anglicanismcaused him to align with the British, for whom he recruited support. He was convicted of high
treason againstConnecticut. In March 1777, Phebe, pregnant with his eighthchild, was forced to ride with him in atumbrel to the gallows Dunbar’sfather,asupporter of independence, reportedly offered to supply thehemp for the hanging. What Americans call the Civil War (1861-1865) was actually our second such. More New Yorkers fought for than againstthe British.Atkinson saysalmost20% of the population (excluding enslaved people) was loyal to Britain; 30,000 of them fought for it. Each side often treated the other savagely But, then, those who lived in the 18th century were inured to death, violent and otherwise, burying children swept away by disease and women who died during childbirth. “Typhus and other diseases,”Atkinson writes, “killed at least 8percent of all passengers on transatlantic crossings.” Medicine was almost nonexistent, and where practiced was often more lethal than battle. Combat wasoften up close and personal, with edged weapons: swords, knives, hatchetsand especially bayonets. Eighteenth-centuryAmerica, of which we are areverberation, was boththe age of reason and of barbarities.History,Atkinson reminds us,isalways,asnow,acompound of theelevating and appalling. Americans who fear arancorous plod toward America’s250th birthday should remember: 250 years ago, the nation knew much worse. Then it healed, passed through the furnace of another civil war,then resumed itszigzag but upwardpath toward amore perfect union. Atkinson’s reminder is that thebirth of this nation, like that of ababy,was painful but worthit.
Email George Will at georgewill@ washpost.com.
As aNew Orleansschoolboy in the 1960s and 1970s,Iwas taught the insidious “Lost Cause”myth of the Civil War. In the poisonous fiction of the Lost Cause thatwas fed to millions of other southerners, the brutal institutionofslavery,which the Confederacy seceded to preserve, had nothing to do with the Civil War. Instead, the war was fought to defend anoble, chivalrous wayoflife against barbarous northern aggression. Slavery,to the extent thatitwas acknowledged at all, wasa benign, paternalistic, mutually beneficialrelationship between masters andservants.
Until recently,I believedthe Lost Cause myth —and the hideous Jim Crowpoliciesitwas used to justify —had been mostly consigned to the garbage heap of history
To the contrary,not only has it been simmering beneaththe surface all along, it has comeroaring back with avengeance.
And when Isay vengeance, Imean it literally.Itis the vengeance of some aggrieved, misguidedpeople who resent having to compete on alevel playing field with qualifiedwomen andpeople of color
Historicalrevisionism —whetherthe Lost Cause mythology of my youth, the “anti-CRT” backlash of the last five yearsorthe current gutting of museum andlibrary funding —isn’tsimply an effort to paint arosierpicture of the past. It’sajustificationfor regressive, unjust policies that reinforce White, male advantage. According to Lost Cause revisionism, Black Americanswerecontent to be enslavedbytheir benevolent andindulgent masters. The responsibilitiesoffreedom were overwhelming to them, and oppressive JimCrowlaws did them afavor by restoring the naturalorder
This mythology persisted throughout the Civil Rights era, when activists and protesters were deridedas“outside agitators” seeking to disrupt a cherished andpeaceful social order
The current movement to distort American history doesn’tcontend that Black Americans are content with andeven cherish the system of oppression. It contends thatthe system of oppression doesn’t exist. It’smuchhardertomake the case against diversity,equity andinclusionpolicieswhenyou understand thatJackie Robinsonwas —inthe sneering terminology of the anti-equality movement —“a DEI hire.”So, Jackie Robinsonmust be wipedfrom history If you want to make the case thatPat Boonerecordedthe greatestrendition of “Tutti Frutti” in history,you’vegot to make damn sure no oneever hearsLittle Richard.
There’s nothing wrong with preferring Pat Boone, of course,but areyou really making an informed decisionifyou haven’theardthemboth?
That’sthe fear at the heartofthe “anti-woke” campaign to erasehistory.President Donald Trump claims to seek “a society that is colorblind and merit-based.”What he and his uninformed accomplices actually seek is to maintain the fictionthat the advantages they enjoy are the result solely of “merit” andnot in part due to systemic andhistorical inequities. Theycan’t do thatwithout wiping those systemic andhistorical inequities from the record. That’s why theywanttohide the history of slavery,segregation, discriminatory hiring practices, redlining, appraisalbias, inequitable school funding, voter suppressionand gerrymandering
Exhibits like NOMA’s “New African Masquerades,” made possible by the federal funding that hasbeen snatched away,aren’tjust accidental casualtiesoffiscal-mindedbudgettrimming. They arethe deliberate targets of acultural purge aimed at stifling expression by historically marginalized communities. But even before Trump’sreturn to the OvalOffice, Louisiana beganits crackdown on policies, programs, lessons and activities that celebrate diversity or acknowledge inequality Now,the Trump administration says those policies, programs, lessons andactivities must be bannedor schoolswill lose their federal funding.
As mayor,I learnedthe powerofmulti-racial coalitionbuilding to drive change, such as historic crime reductionand major advances in building affordable housing. Now that Iamonthe national stage,Isee the need for the same type of coalition building to repair the cracks in our institutions and build astronger,moreresilient nationtogether In New Orleans, we know thatthe beauty of a good gumbo comesfrom the unique blend of avariety of flavors. To leave out even one flavorful ingredient is to diminish its richness. We know better thantosabotageour own taste buds like that. Cutting essentialingredients out of our history is far worse thana bland and tasteless gumbo. It deprivesusnot just of flavor,but of nourishment. The nationwill growweak and falter Diversity andinclusion aren’tabout choosing one ingredient over another,but the reality that we are greater together thanweare divided from one another.
Marc Morial is the president of the National Urban Leagueand theformer mayor of NewOrleans.
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ANALYSIS
All eyes are on the New OrleansSaints for the 2025 NFL Draft. Colorado coach Deion Sanders has noted as much, sending out an eyeball emoji in wake of DerekCarr’sshoulder injury thatcould lead theSaints to draft aquarterback when theNFL draft runs April 24-26. Sanders, of course, haspersonal interest in seeinghis son ShedeurSanders, a topquarterback in this year’s class, get selected.
But so many ofthe Saints’ plans areunknown at this time.
“Man, they’ve been one of the most curious teams for me to tryand piece together,” Yahoo Sports NFL draft analyst NateTice said. With Carr’sinjury,wespoke with Tice to get his outlook on theSaints’ draft and how he sees it from anational perspective:
First off, let’sstartwith DerekCarr. How do youthink his injuryaffects what the Saints want to do, specifically at number9? Nate Tice: Well, obviously,that injury news gets floated forareason, especiallythe timing of that. Then for me, maybe on theoutside of perspective, Ilook at it aslike, ‘OK, why is that coming out? Why is that
One begins his new job Monday morning. The other has been at hisjob for 24 years. Both will speak this week as their respective pro franchises try to climb out of the abyss of oneofthe worst seasons in New Orleans pro sportshistory
Sophomoreoutfielder shines in weekendseries
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
LSU baseball had aproductive weekend in its return to Alex Box Stadium,winning two of three games against Alabamatoimprove to 12-6 in Southeastern Conference play The Tigers won11-6 on Thursday and 4-3 on Fridaybeforedropping Saturday’s series finale by afinal score of 7-4. Here are five takeaways from LSU’sthird series victory in the SEC.
Should Jake Brownplayevery day?
Sophomore Jake Brownonly started once this weekend but he wasexceptional whenever his number was called. The outfielderhad asingle andscored arun on Thursdaybefore coming offthe bench Saturday and blasting his second home runofthe season and hitting arunscoring triple.In37games,Brown hasan .883 on-base plus slugging percentage and leadsthe team in steals. He’s also playedsolid defense in right field and has only struck out 15 times. So how come he’sonly started in 27 games and didn’tplay Friday? Forone, LSU has had to manage playing time between him, senior Josh Pearson and junior Ethan Frey, especially since Frey has started playing more against right-handed pitching. Pearson had just twohits this weekend but hisexperience is bound to keep him in the
comingout aweek before thedraft or two weeks before thedraft?’ So obviously, Ithink they were going to be interested in aquarterback (who) is this regime, meaning the coaching staff’s guy.Even if they like Carr, they likeSpencer Rattler or whomever,(new) coaching staffs like having their dude. That’s what Ithink, that no matter what, they were going to be interested in somebody at some pointinthis draft.Ithink just
now saying, ‘Hey,our starter’shurt’ changes the math. Ithink it’sjust more thatnow thatitmakes the No. 9 pickmore alive as opposed to what Ihad perceived before as maybe a Day 2selection at the quarterback position. Buttome, it just seems like astaff that wants their guy.They have no attachment to Derek Carr
Who do you see at No. 9then for the Saints as it relatestoquarterback? Shedeur Sanders? WouldJaxson Dartsurprise you? Dart wouldn’tsurprise me, just reading tea leaves, but Iwouldn’tdo it. Iwouldn’ttake any quarterback
ä See DRAFT, page 4B
The Saints finished just 5-12 this past season, theworst record since 2005.
LSUright fielder Jake Brown
STAFFPHOTO By MICHAEL
JOHNSON
Rod Walker
Joe Dumars, named last week to replace David Griffin as executive vice presidentofbasketballoperations forthe Pelicans, will hold his introductory press
conference Tuesday About 24 hours later,long-time Saints’executive VP/general manager Mickey Loomis will hold his annual pre-draft media availability Dumars and Loomis are the decision makers for teams that will havetomake some tough decisions over the next few days and months. Those decisions will ultimately decide if either franchise has achance at rebounding from abrutal past eight months
The Pelicansdidn’tfare any better,going just 21-61. Only the2004-05 Hornets at the time did worse than that by going 18-64.
The 26 combined wins by the Saints and Pelicanstied for the worst in aseason by this city’ssportsteams, equaling the 2004 Saints(8-8) and those 2004-05 Hornets.
So what are Dumarsand Loomis’ plans to get thingsback on track?
Chances are, we won’tget awhole lot of insight on their specific plans. Butthere are questions to be answered.
For Loomis,there will be questions
about the Saints’ plans foradding to the roster during this year’sdraftwhich begins Thursday.The Saints have the No. 9 overall pick, their highest draftpick since 2008 when they selected defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis with the seventh overall pick. Will the Saints use their first-round pick on aquarterback, something they haven’t done since 1971 when they drafted Archie Manning? Or will they find someone to plug in one of the manyother holes on the roster?
Quarterback becameabig concern after
ä See WALKER, page 3B
BY DOUG FERGUSON
AP golf writer
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Justin Thomas ended nearly three years without a victory Sunday by making a birdie putt from just outside 20 feet in a playoff at Harbour Town to beat Andrew Novak in the RBC Heritage Thomas played bogey-free in dry, fast conditions for a 3-under 68, making a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th that looked like it might be the winner until Novak, who grew up in South Carolina, matched him with a big birdie of his own for a 68.
Novak, who has had three good chances to win in his last 14 tournaments, had an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation that was left all the way In the playoff, Novak missed from just inside 35 feet, setting the stage for Thomas. The putt was so pure that Thomas dropped his putter before the ball dropped, stooping over and clutching both arms to celebrate a win that felt long overdue. His previous win was the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May of 2022 His game slipped and he missed the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in 2023, and he was left off the Presidents Cup team a year ago.
His game was back in order — he cracked the top 10 again and needed only a victory to confirm his game was back among the elite “I didn’t realize how much I missed winning,” Thomas said on the 18th green as he stood next to wife Jill and 5-month-old daughter Molly Thomas and Novak finished at 17-under 267, three shots clear of anyone else.
Novak was a runner-up in Bermuda last fall. He was right there at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open. He was in the mix at the Valero Texas Open. And this looked like it might be his moment to break through until Thomas refused to be denied.
“Winning is hard. It’s really, really hard,” Thomas said with a
tinge of emotion in his voice. “I’ve worked my butt off and stayed patient, stayed positive.”
He won for the 16th time on the PGA Tour and to his recollection, he has never had to make a putt of length on the 18th hole to win by a shot.
“That was as fun as I thought it would be,” Thomas said.
They pulled away in the middle of the round from a tight leaderboard a four-way tie at one point as they were joined by 54hole leader Si Woo Kim and Maverick McNealy Daniel Berger closed with a 65 to tie for third with McNealy (70), Mackenzie Hughes (67) and Brian Harman (69).
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler even got in on the act, just briefly He started four shots behind and was even for the round through eight holes. But he ran off
three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn to pull within two.
Scheffler was running out of hole when he took on a high-risk shot needing eagle to have a legitimate chance. That found the water, leading to double bogey He still shot 70 and tied for eighth, his third straight top 10 while contending into the final hour
“I think I’m really close,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I did a lot of things well this week, just a few of the important shots I just didn’t pull off Outside of that it was a pretty solid week.”
Thomas won the tournament with a birdie in a playoff. He saved his chances toward the end of the front nine when he made four straight putts starting on the fifth hole — 7 feet for birdie, 7 feet for par 8 feet for par and just inside 15 feet for birdie on No. 8, where he took on the trees with
a 7-iron to give himself a chance. Novak had tree trouble and battled away, getting a few good bounces and a remarkable par save from a sandy lie amidst a forest on No. 11.
He moves high enough in the world ranking — inside the top 35 — that he should be a lock for the U.S. Open and now needs to stay in the top 50 the next month for the British Open.
“I’m not as frustrated as I thought I would be.” Novak said.
“I feel like I did a lot of good things. I’m pretty proud of putting myself in that position when I really felt like I wasn’t swinging it that great this week.
“I thought I was a little more comfortable down the stretch than maybe I have been in the past. Justin just went out and won it. There’s nothing you can really do about it.”
The Associated Press
LOSANGELES Former LSU standout
Ingrid Lindblad won the JM Eagle LA Championship on Sunday in her third start as an LPGA Tour member, avoiding a playoff when fellow rookie Akie Iwai bogeyed the final hole at El Caballero Country Club. Playing a group ahead of Iwai, Lindblad shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 21-under 277. The 25-yearold former LSU star from Sweden made the last of her six birdies on the par-5 11th and parred the final seven holes. She had two frontnone bogeys.
Iwai followed a third-round 64 with a 69 to fall a stroke short. The 22-year-old Japanese player’s twin sister Chisato, tied for 11th at 15 under after a 68. Iwai pulled even with Lindblad at 21 under with a birdie on the par-5 16th. After her drive went left and bounced twice on the cart path, Iwai hit a low cut around a tree to the front edge of the green and rolled a 75-foot eagle putt to
Ingrid Lindblad hits from the sixth tee during the final round of the LPGA’s JM Eagle LA Championship golf tournament at El Caballero Country Club on Sunday in Los Angeles.
inches. On the par-4 18th, Iwai drove to the right over a bunker into rough, then hit a 9-iron from 150 that
bounced near the flag and went off the back edge From a good lie in choppy rough, she ran the downhill chip past the hole and missed
BY TOYLOY BROWN III
as a sophomore. Ward was ranked the No. 34 player in the 247Sports Composite in the 2022 class. Collins started 22 games in place of Jalen Reed, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Dec 3.The 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward/ center averaged 8.0 points on 58% from the field, 4.3 rebounds, and
the comebacker
Lindblad got a break on the par-4 13th when her drive struck a tree on the left side and bounced into the fairway She parred the hole to maintain a two-stroke lead.
Lauren Coughlin (70), Esther Henseleit (64), Miyu Yamashita (66) tied for third at 19 under Nasa Hataoka had a 63 to get to 18 under Hannah Green, the winner each of the last two seasons at Wilshire Country Club, closed with a 67 to tie for ninth at 16 under Secondranked Jeeno Thitikul also was 16 under after a 69.
Top-ranked Nelly Korda had a 72 to tie for 16th at 14 under in her final start before her title defense in the major Chevron Championship. The major event starts Thursday outside Houston at The Woodlands. The tournament — the final event of the tour’s West Coast swing was played at El Caballero because of renovations at Wilshire. It will return to Wilshire next season.
1.6 blocks in 20.4 minutes last season. The Atlanta, Texas, native started his career at Kentucky after being ranked the No 16 player in the 2021 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. “After careful consideration,” Collins said in his statement, “I have decided to enter the transfer portal. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the best step for my future and continued development. Thank you Tiger Nation, for your unwavering support. I will always carry these experiences and lessons
with me as I embark on this new chapter.” The other LSU players to decide on their new landing spots are freshman Vyctorius Miller who committed to Oklahoma State, redshirt freshman Corey Chest going to Ole Miss and junior Noah Boyde to Western Kentucky Sophomore Mike Williams hasn’t announced his transfer destination. LSU has five transfer additions, highlighted by UNLV point guard Dedan Thomas who is the No. 14 transfer on 247Sports.
U.S. tops Canada in OT to win hockey worlds title
CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czech Republic Tessa Janecke scored the winner as the United States prevailed in overtime over reigning champion Canada 4-3 to win the women’s hockey world championship on Sunday Janecke struck with 2:54 left in overtime for the Americans to claim the 11th title at the worlds. Abbey Murphy and Taylor Heise scored a goal and had an assist, and Caroline Harvey also scored for the U.S.
The U.S. cruised through the tournament, winning the preliminary group with four wins from four including a 2-1 win over Canada, and eliminating Germany in the quarterfinals and Finland in the semifinals. The 12-day, 10-nation tournament represented the final major international tune-up before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy
Zverev downs Shelton to win third Munich title
MUNICH Top-seeded Alexander Zverev beat second-seeded American Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4 to win his third Munich title on Sunday It was the big-serving German player’s first title of the year and 24th overall on the ATP tour He previously won the clay-court tournament in 2017 and ‘18.
Shelton was playing in his fourth career final and second on clay after winning in Houston last year In sunny conditions at the BMW Open, Zverev served for the match and set up match point with a sliced backhand at the net that Shelton could not get back in. He clinched the win with a sharp backhand volley at the net following a brief rally It was a dominant performance on serve from Zverev, who did not face a break point.
Ashun Wu rallies to win second China Open
SHANGHAI Ashun Wu made a Sunday charge on the back nine with five birdies for a 6-under 65 that enabled him to overcome a four-shot deficit and win the China Open for the second time. The victory came 10 years after the 39-year-old Wu first won the China Open. It was his fifth career victory on the European tour Li Haotong and Eugenio Chacarra of Spain, who began the final round tied for the lead at Enhance Anting Club, each closed with a 1-over 72. Wu was three shots behind Chacarra when he made the turn and promptly ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch. Chacarra, playing behind him, had three bogeys on the back nine and fell back.
Rune upsets Alcaraz to win Barcelona Open
BARCELONA, Spain Holger Rune upset home-crowd favorite Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets on Sunday to win the Barcelona Open for his first title since 2023.
Rune defeated the Spaniard 7-6 (6), 6-2 for his first title since winning in Munich two years ago, and fifth overall. It was the Dane’s first ATP 500 title.
Alcaraz was coming off a ninematch winning streak and was searching for his third title of the year and 19th of his career He won the Barcelona Open in 2022 and 2023.
Rune, runner-up to Jack Draper at Indian Wells, rallied from a break down in the opener and converted his fourth set point. He cruised in the second set against Alcaraz.
Washington Spirit star Rodman out indefinitely
Trinity Rodman is taking time away from the Washington Spirit as she deals with back issues, the National Women’s Soccer League team said. The forward, who also plays for the U.S. women’s national team, will be sidelined indefinitely. The Washington Post was first to report Rodman’s absence.
Last September Rodman was injured during a match against the Kansas City Current.
She returned to the national team early this month and scored in a 2-0 victory over Brazil. She also played last weekend in the
2-0 victory over
She has played in
for
adunk by Williams during a first-roundplayoff game againstthe Memphis Grizzles on SundayinOklahoma City
OKCobliterates Memphisby 51 points in record-breaking NBAplayoff romp
BY CLIFF BRUNT AP sportswriter
OKLAHOMA CITY TheOklahoma CityThunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in Game 1oftheir first-round Western Conference playoff series on Sunday,the fifthbiggest margin of victory in NBA postseasonhistory
The 51-point margin was seven points shy of the record and was thelargest Game 1 win in NBA playoff history
Aaron Wiggins scored 21 points,Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander,the league’sscoring champion with nearly 33 points per game, scored just 15. The Thunder still shot 50.5% from the field.
“Weplayed to our identity,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.“Nothing more, nothing less than that. We were who we were all year and it’sgoing to be the key to our success, just staying true to who we are.”
Gilgeous-Alexander had said several times since Oklahoma City’s loss to Dallas in last season’sWestern Conference semifinals that he would be intentional aboutgetting his teammatesbetterpreparedfor this postseason.
So far,sogood.
“I have agreat groupof guys around me, andIknowthat,” Gilgeous-Alexandersaid.
“And I’ve known thatfor along time. They obviously played amazing.”
There have been two 58-pointplayoffmargins in NBA history: Denver beating New Orleans 121-63 in 2009 and the Minneapolis Lakers beating the St.Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956. The Los Angeles Lakersbeat Golden State by 56 (126-70) in 1973 andthe ChicagoBulls beat theMilwaukee Bucks by 54 (120-66) in 2015.
Ja Morant scored 17 points for Memphis on just 6-for-17 shooting. Jaren Jackson Jr who averaged justover 22 pointsinthe regular season, scored four pointson2-for13 shooting. TheGrizzlies shotjust 34.4% overall.
The Thunder,who finishedthe regularseason with aleague-best 68-14 record, took control with a20-0 run that gave them a5522 lead in thesecondquarter. They took a 35-pointlead into halftime.
“I just felt like after that, the energyjust kind of wasn’tthere and we were just tryingtotalktoourselvestoget back into the game,” Morant said.
This was Memphis’ first playoff game underinterim coach Tuomas Iisalo. He coached just nine NBA regular-season contests before theplay-in games.
“If you’re in aplayoff series, it’sa best of seven,”Iisalo said. “It doesn’tmatter if you winbyone point on abuzzer-beater or you win by50points, you get one win. So luckily for us, there’sonly oneway from this and that’s up. And we will analyze it and learn fromit. And then we will fix thosethings that hurt us.”
Game 2isTuesday, and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects acloser game.
Tatumstays in game despite hard fall in second half
BY KYLE HIGHTOWER AP sportswriter
BOSTON As theCeltics were taking control of their playoff opener against the Orlando Magic, Boston’sbest player was on his back in pain and tugging at his wrist.
As chantsof“MVP!” rained downon him, Jayson Tatum eventually rose to his feet andwas loudlycheeredashepaced towardthe bench.
“I just landed on it. It was throbbing for asecond,”Tatumsaid.“It kind of went away.”
Andbrought asigh of relief foraBoston team just starting its quest to repeat as NBA champions.
Derrick White scored 30 points, Tatum had17pointsand finished thegame after ascary late fall, andthe Celtics beat the Magic 103-86 in Game 1oftheir first-round playoff series Sunday
Payton Pritchard added 19 points off the benchfor Boston, which hosts Game 2on Wednesday night.Jaylen Brownplayed 31 minutesand had16points on 6-of-14 shootingafter missing the final three games of theregular season due to alingering knee issue.
“We’ve got manydifferent ways we can win. Alot of different things we can throw at teams,” White said.
With Boston leading 89-73 with 8:28 remaining, Tatumwent up for adunk and was hit hard by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as he tried to block it.Tatum landed awkwardly on his right side.
He stayed down briefly before eventually rising to his feet,clenching his right hand. After avideo review by referees, Caldwell-Pope’sfoul was upgraded to aflagrant foul. Tatum subsequently missedthe twoensuingfree throwsbut remained in thegame. He said apostgame X-ray came back clean.
“It’s clean, it’sgood,” Tatum told reporters.
Paolo Bancheroled the Magic with 36 points and 11 rebounds. FranzWagner added 23 pointsfor Orlando, which has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the2009-10 season.
Orlando led by apoint at halftime, limiting aBoston team that set an NBArecord for 3-pointers this season to 7of15from beyond thearc in theopening 24 minutes and 16 of 37 forthe game. But the Magic turned the ball over six times in thethirdquarter and were outscored 30-18 as the Celtics took a78-65 lead into the fourth.The Celtics’ lead grew as high as 19 in the final period. Forthe game,Orlando finished with 15 turnovers which led to 24 Boston points.
“It’sGame1,there’snerves. Lit crowd. Really loud,” Banchero said.“So, nota total surprise that we struggleda littlebit on offense, honestly.” Brown, whoreceived injections in his knee last week, didn’tshow any noticeable effects of the issue at the outsetSunday Later,with the Celtics leading by 15 in the third quarter,Browndrove in the lane for atwo-handeddunkand swungonthe rim in celebration. “I haven’tgot one of those in alittle bit,” Brown said. “But we’re just getting started.”
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Ty Jeromehad 16 of his 28 points in thefourth quarter and theCleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat 121-100 on Sunday night in Game 1ofthe EasternConference first-round playoff series.
It was the seventh straight series where Mitchell has scored at least 30 points in Game 1, tying Michael Jordan, who hadtwo streaks of seven games. Bam Adebayohad 24 points and Tyler Herro added 21 for the Heat.They are the first No. 10 seed to advance to the playoffs outofthe Play-In Tournament.
Darius Garland added 27 for the Cavaliers, who host Game 2on Wednesday night Garland and Jerome eachhad five3-pointers for Cleveland, and theCavaliers were 18 of 43 from beyond the arc. Cleveland had a16-point lead midway through the second quarter,but Miami steadily cut it down and got to 98-90with 7:26 remaining in the fourth.Cleveland put
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the news dropped that Derek Carr is dealing with ashoulder injury that could possibly require surgeryand cause him to miss the season. That news came just weeks afterthe Saints restructured the quarterback’s contract. Didthe Saints know about the injury or did Carr hide it from them? It’samessy situationthatwill need cleaning up.
Meanwhile across the way on Airline Drive, Dumars inherits ateam whoseseasonwas marred by injuries. He’llhave to decide if Willie Green getsanother year and coach the final year of his contract. And he’ll also have to decide what to do with Zion Williamson, thecenterpiece the Pelicans have been trying to buildaround. Williamson played just 30 games thisseasonand frustration has mounted. But ask Dallas Mavericks’ president of basketball operations Nico Harrison,who tradedLuca
Cavaliers guard DonovanMitchell reacts in the first half of an NBA first-round playoff game against the
it out reach though with a13-4 run that included 10 straight points by Jerome, who was takingpart in his first playoff game. Jeromewas 6of7from the field, and made allthree of his3-point attempts in thefourth quarter
Doncic this season, how fractured afanbase can become when you part ways with ayoungsuperstar Dumars will get achance to address those issues as well as give some of his vision for ateam that would much rather have beenspending therest of April in the playoffs. Here’swhat Dumars said in a statement released by theteam last week whenhis hiring was announced.
“There is alot of talent on this roster,” Dumars said. “My vision is to build adisciplined team that is built on toughness, smart decision-making and ano-excuses mindset. Iamproud to have grown up in Louisiana and know how passionate, resilient and tough we are as acommunity. Our fansdeserve ateam that represents that spirit.” Neither Pelicans’ fans nor Saints’ fans gotthat this season. Dumars and Loomis get achance to shed some light on their vision and why fans should expect things to be different going forward.
BY JOSH DUBOW
AP pro football writer
The days of running backs being the headliners at the NFL draft are long in the past with the league’s shift to more passing leading to quarterbacks, pass rushers and pass blockers dominating the top of the draft each year
The ingredients could be in place for a bit of a change this year thanks to one of the deepest classes of running backs in years following a season when gamechanging backs such as Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry became the biggest free agent hits.
“When I was a kid, running back was arguably the most important position on the field,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said at the scouting combine. “I grew up a Cowboys fan Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, guys like that were my idols. Then we went through this period over the last five, 10 years, where the analytics certainly de-emphasized the position. I think last year, you saw the impact that some of these guys had. I think (running backs) are looked at as probably replaceable by some people, but if you have a great one, you’ve got a historic one, you just can’t replace those guys.”
The big question headed into the draft Thursday is whether teams view prospects such as Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton as those types of backs worthy of being taken with a premium pick.
Jeanty was projected in the final AP mock draft to go sixth to Las Vegas, which would be the highest pick for a running back since Barkley was taken second overall in 2018 by the New York Giants.
“We just saw Saquon Barkley just change the Eagles in one year,” Raiders GM John Spytek said “Now they had a great team around him and it was adding an elite player I think when you sit where we sit, I mean the idea is to add elite players at any position. I don’t try to devalue any certain position. There’s certain ways
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in the first round this year other than (Miami’s) Cam Ward Every other guy I have a Day 2 grade on, including Shedeur Sanders, Dart, Tyler Shough and Jalen Milroe and all those guys.
I consider them a grab bag of like, ‘OK, if you prefer this guy, you might like him in the 20s.’ I don’t think any of these guys a lot of these guys are scary to me, the top 10 or even in the top 20. I would really just wait until the back half of the first round. So maybe they’re a trade-back candidate as well, which is also against type. (laughs)
But I really do think that they have more preference for Dart And again, this is not me hearing anything. This is just me reading tea leaves, seeing who they went on the pro day Only (Saints quarterbacks coach) Scott Tolzien went to Colorado, I believe, for the pro day there Again, you can have workouts with quarterbacks privately But what you’re signaling at pro days is interesting And then also, they go to the Ole Miss pro day which I know Oxford isn’t that crazy of a drive from New Orleans, but everybody was there. Head coach Kellen Moore, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach. (Doug) Nussmeier’s there. Tolzien’s there. So just the signaling of that seems more of a preference for Dart. But again, it’s noisy everywhere, and they might have him graded higher. But again, to me, my grading, I think these guys are more Day 2 guys that you take in the second round as opposed to your top 10.
Of that Day 2 group — and you can throw Sanders in if you’d like — who do see fitting the Saints and see as a match for Kellen Moore specifically? Is there anyone you like of that group the most?
That group? Let’s see, there’s even my guy the guy I consider that group, too, is Riley Leonard from Notre Dame. I’m the only person in public media saying that. But I actually like Leonard in that offense a little bit But he’s a project to me. He’s going to take a year or two. The guy that I could see them talk themselves into is Dart just because of his skillset and some of the accuracy stuff, how he throws to the outside, how he throws deep balls. That makes sense for what Moore kind of likes. But that’s the
to build a team, and I don’t know where we got to a place where we don’t feel like running backs are valued. I come from the University of Michigan to my core, and those guys were certainly really valued there. So, it’s hard for me to get away from that.”
Only one running back in the past six drafts was taken in the top 10 with Bijan Robinson going eighth to Atlanta in 2023. Five running backs were top-10 picks from 2015-18 with two being taken that high in 2017 when Leonard Fournette went fourth and Christian McCaffrey went eighth. It’s a far cry from earlier eras when running backs were often
thing is, Kellen Moore, it’s hard to gauge what he prefers. He wasn’t part of the Dak Prescott selection committee, and Dak was a fourthrounder OK, so Dak is a unique player He is a very smart, cerebral quarterback, had athleticism that he doesn’t rely on as much anymore. Has good size. OK, that kind of there’s some Ward there, but some Dart there, too. Some Milroe there. I think Dak is way more polished. I think Milroe is a huge project. OK, then (Moore) goes to the Chargers and (he has) Justin Herbert. Herbert’s already been selected, already ready-made. OK. Goes to the Eagles. It’s (Jalen) Hurts. Hurts is a one-of-one thing, too, and also benefits from the situation there. I wish that I had a good answer going ‘Yeah, this is his type of guy.’ But it’s hard for me to decipher that.
I think so much of the interviews is going to matter to him because of how competitive and smart Dak is and was as a prospect, too. So if he’s going like, ‘I want the Dak guy or I want a guy that plays like me,’ — I mean, that’s hard for me to find in this class. If he wants a quarterback that plays like Kellen Moore, OK, that’s Tyler Shough. Tyler Shough is 26 (years old). And that’s just a weird hard pivot to go from, you’re not getting that much younger, you’re not getting a guy with a ton of upside and everything. If you can’t tell, it’s hard to find some real clean fits for a lot of teams with this class.
Who do you like at 9 of the non-quarterbacks for them?
Man, they’ve been one of the most curious teams for me to try and piece together Because they get going so many different directions. I like maybe an edge player for them. If they want to go for an upside player like Mykel Williams or Shemar Stewart I can see them going receiver with (Arizona’s) Tetairoa McMillan. That’s another guy I’d actually like. If (Chris) Olave ever comes back healthy, oh my God, McMillan and Olave, you couldn’t ask for a better 1-2 at receiver But where the Saints are right now, it’s like, Do you guys really want to take another receiver in the first round?
For me, there’s trench guys. I actually really liked them to maybe go safety, but then they signed Justin Reid in free agency So that changed my math, maybe like Malaki Starks or something. And that might have been a little rich for Starks. So for me, I looked
the top overall pick, including four times in five seasons from 197781. No running back has gone first overall since Ki-Jana Carter in 1995.
Teams have been waiting later and later to take running backs with Jonathan Brooks the first to go last year at No 46 to Carolina. There has been just an average of two running backs taken in the top 50 in the past six drafts, down from a peak of 12 in 1990.
This year’s class of running backs is one of the deepest in recent memory with several players after Jeanty and Hampton projected to be picked either late in the first round or on day two of the
at edge players, more projecty edge players with tools like Stewart or Williams. Or McMillan if they want to make a splash and say, whoever’s throwing the ball, we’re going to get you some Class A weapons out here. But the Saints have been one of my — if I went not a quarterback in the mock draft, they’re one of my more hard teams to find a pairing that truly makes sense. Which is Saints-like. You never know what they’re going to do.
It’s funny. If Dennis Allen was still here, I would be hammering the drum for Stewart, because that’s very much his style of defensive end. Stewart or Williams is Dennis Allen all the way Both of those guys.
So with Allen gone, are the Saints actually open to a Jalon Walker type? What do you think about them needing to change their edge rushing, what they look for in an edge rusher? Do you think Walker will be there at No. 9 when they’re on the clock?
I do. I think a lot of teams Walker is one of these players, and even me as an evaluator, everyone likes him Everyone really likes him Everyone loves the football player I’ve never interviewed him, but apparently, his football character is amazing. Him as a person is really great. It’s just that it’s one of those we’ll see on draft time who actually pulls the trigger It’s a lot of like, ‘Oh, I love this guy, but maybe for you.’ Short answer is that I do think he’ll be there at No. 9. I think the Panthers, who have No. 8, is where his range starts. I think his range is 8-16. I think the Cardinals at 16. The Falcons are 15. He’s very popular in the NFC South. I think Jalon Walker is going to be. But no, I think his range is 8-16. So I think he will be there at 9 when it does come to draft. Also, the Patriots really like him. But now I really do think (Will) Campbell is their guy
Will Campbell likely won’t be there, but he’d fill a lot of needs for the Saints at No. 9.You could move him to guard or keep him at tackle and maybe move Trevor Penning to guard. Campbell would be great for them. I just think he’s going to be gone.The Jags and Patriots both love Campbell. I think one of those two teams are going to take him. Yeah, no, he would make a lot of sense for the Saints because it’s like, OK, even if he doesn’t stay at tackle, no matter what, he can start somewhere, which is what the Saints needs so badly
ly disappeared as teams went to a backfield by committee. The league featured 13 players in 2003 who had at least 300 carries in a season — matching the nine-year combined total from 2015-23. Six players hit the 300-carry mark last season led by Barkley and Henry for the most in a season since 2010.
“For a while, the market maybe was suppressed. People were not looking at them as weapons,” Bills GM Brandon Beane said. “I kind of look for them as anyone you add to your offense, what do they bring? What is their skill set? Is it a mismatched player? Someone asked, I think a year or two ago, what is your philosophy? Would you draft a running back in the first round? I probably wouldn’t draft a running back that is 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but if it’s a weapon like some of these guys were talking about, heck yeah I would.” With the diminished role of the featured back, the pay at the position has also suffered with Josh Jacobs’ running back-leading $48 million deal with Green Bay ranking tied for 159th among all players. The $13.6 million franchise tag number for running backs determined by the highest-paid players at each position — is the lowest of any position outside of specialists.
draft including Ohio State’s duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins; Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson; Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo, Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson; Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten; and Central Florida’s RJ Harvey
The shift from a running to a passing league began with rule changes in 1978 that made passing easier and has continued for more than four decades.
The rate of running dropped from a post-merger high of nearly 58% in 1977 to a low of just more than 40% in 2014 before undergoing a slight increase in recent years to 43.4% last season. But the bell-cow back had most-
right now Just reliability up there, and that’s what he’s going to provide. I wouldn’t mind offensive line for the Saints either at No. 9. Again, it just has to be, Does Mickey Loomis want to admit that (Trevor) Penning failed or something like that? And that’s also a part of the equation, too.
Right. I thought Penning played OK last season. Second half of the year? Yeah. He’s not a abject ‘shouldn’t be on the field’ anymore. He’s actually a playable now, which is big improvement for where he was at.
In terms of the receiver with McMillan, is he your No. 1 guy? Matthew Golden, anyone there? McMillan also fits since he’s the type of receiver that they don’t have, which I think makes a lot of sense for them. But do you like him more than Golden or any of the other guys?
Oh, yeah. McMillan is No. 3 overall on my big board, period. I consider (Colorado’s) Travis Hunter more of a corner first. But I still think if you do draft (Hunter) at receiver, I totally get it. But I view him as a corner McMillan, though, is my WR1, No. 3 on my big board. I think he’s a no-brainer top 10 talent, even with the long speed stuff, because it doesn’t hinder his tape at all because he wins in so many other ways. Golden is WR3 for me after (Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka), but they’re tiered the same. I have them in the 20s on my big board. That’s where the range I’m more comfortable with him, late first, early second types. Golden ran fast, but his speed isn’t — that’s not how he wins. He’s more of a smooth… He’s like a smaller DJ Moore. That’s who I’ve been comparing him. But that’s a little scary because he’s smaller He’s 190. He’s not 215, which is what I think DJ Moore is now Then Egbuka’s a dirty work guy, but a good one. I really like his game. I think he actually wouldn’t be bad for the Saints either, but it’s too rich at nine. That’d be more like a secondround pick, or I’d be more comfortable with him at 20, so I’m on a tradeback or something like that. But yeah, McMillan is easily definitively my WR1.
If the Saints trade up, is there a player or position group you think they could target if a guy falls or players start to come off the board — similar to what happened last year with them grabbing Kool-Aid McKinstry? I don’t know if this guy’s a… he might be the perfect LSU guy,
The rookie wage scale put in place in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement determines salaries for the first four seasons solely on draft position, leading teams to use premium picks on high-value positions such as quarterback, tackle, pass rushers and receivers in order to save money compared to veteran contracts.
That’s a big factor that is hard for some teams to overcome.
“It’s an interesting conversation, because the draft pick is about potential ceiling, ability to play at a certain level, while you have those years under contract below free agency market level, your ability to sustain a second contract,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “There’s all these questions that come into that answer before you pull the card.”
but Mason Taylor, a tight end. Offensive line, if maybe like (tackle) Donovan Jackson is there from Ohio State, I really like him. That would be his range. If they want to go off this line, he slipped a little bit. Going like other positions. I like (defensive tackle) Tyleik Williams from Ohio State. He’s a big plugger type. I don’t know if you want to trade up for that skillset, though. So that’s the thing, too. Malaki Starks maybe. That’d be a good one I just mentioned, but yeah, they signed Justin Reid. Honey Badger (Tyrann Mathieu) is only going to be there for so long. Honey Badgers tape’s not great. But Malaki Starks, though, his range is all over the place. I mentioned him, oh, I liked him at No. 9 a couple of months ago. He’s like 18, 20, somewhere in that range on my big board. He might be a guy because it’s impossible to predict where safeties go in the draft — so he might be a guy that slips and slips and slips, and they pop up. Maybe they move up to 33, something of that sort, and stop the fall of Malaki Starks. But that would be one. Maybe if they did want to target a safety who has some versatility, which makes sense for Brandon Staley as well. So that might be a candidate there.
Another big positional need for the Saints is cornerback. Is there anyone you like from the Day 2 group? I really like Trey Amos from Ole Miss. He’s getting a lot of heat. I thought I was going to be the only guy that really liked him. Now, no one will shut up about it. Trey Amos, he’s 38 on my big board, so right, perfect range there. I could see him actually squeaking into the first. He’s just easy to like. Corner’s volatile, but he feels safeish for a corner, and he tested much better than people anticipated, including me. And he’s got a good skillset. But Amos is that perfect guy I’m lower on Maxwell Hairston from Kentucky I think he’s going in the first round, so he might not be there. Azareye’h Thomas from Florida State is a great call. ...Darien Porter from Iowa State. Big, long, converted receiver He’s a little older but tested well. He’s got a cool skillset. I think someone’s going to take a swing on him in Round 2. I had him more of a late second, early third grade, but his skillset and how big he is and his traits, that’s another guy that could be picked at 40, I think that’s a very valid candidate there.
McLaren driver Oscar
By The Associated Press
Oscar Piastri
has shown he has the pace to fight for the Formula 1title. In winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday,heshowedhe can win an argument, too. For the first time this season, a penalty played akey role in deciding arace win as Piastri went top of the standings with his victory
Piastri’stwo earlier wins this season hadbeen dominant drives from pole position. This time he had to get past four-time champion Max Verstappen.
Verstappen started on pole but went off the track when battling for the lead with Piastri at the veryfirst corner.Hestayed in front but got afive-second penalty.
Piastri argued he had got in front of Verstappen on the insideofthe corner and deserved the place.
“Once Igot on the inside, I wasn’tcoming out of turn one in second,” Piastri said.
“I tried my best. Obviously the stewards had to get involved. I thought Iwas plenty far enough up and that’swhat wonme the race.”
Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari and Piastri’sMcLaren teammate, Lando Norris, finished fourth thanks to asmart strat-
Continued from page1B
egy and overtaking. Norris had started 10thfollowing acrash in qualifying
It was the secondwin in arow for Piastri, who took the victory in Bahrain last week andhas three wins from five races this year
He’d only wontwo before this season.
Piastri leads the standings by 10 pointsfrom Norris, withVerstappen twopointsfurther back in third
Piastri wasthree pointsbehind Norris going intoSunday’srace, partly because of acostly spin at hishomerace in Australia, the first GP of the season.
He becomes thefirst Australian to lead the F1 standings since Mark Webber —who is now Piastri’smanager —in2010 as aRed Bulldriver. No Australian has won thetitle since Alan Jones in 1980. Arace-deciding decision
Piastri said thepenalty was what gave him the win. He had problems keeping up with Verstappen’scar before the pit stops withoutdamaginghis tires.
Piastri beat Verstappen off the line and was slightly ahead into thefirst corner,onlyfor Verstappen to runwide across the chicane.Following acrash between Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly seconds later,Piastri andVer-
lineup mix. Frey may not have the defensive value that Pearson and Brown provide,but he went 3for 9with ahomerover the weekend and now leads the Tigersinbatting average
Unless freshman DerekCuriel or junior Chris Stanfield start sittingsome, LSUcan’t play Frey,Pearson andBrown at thesame time, even if they’re all starting caliberbats.
“You have to pick sometimes,” Johnson said. “And Ithink we’ve done areally good job of that this year,and we have the luxury to be able to do it. But Imean, Idon’tview him as not an everyday player.
“Jake Brown is, in my opinion, one ofthe best players on our team.”
Whydidn’tShoresstart Saturday?
Sophomore right-hander Chase Shoreswas listed as LSU’sstarter on Saturday before the weekendbegan, butJohnson hadachange of heart once the series got underway
Instead of starting Shores, Johnson turned to junior left-hander Conner Ware. Ware did hisjob, throwing two scoreless inningsbefore giving up aleadoff single in the third and coming out for Shores.
“I just felt like to hold them down as best we could, we just were going to need more guys,” Johnson said.
Johnson pointed to matchup reasonsasto whyLSU turned to Ware at the start andnot Shores
The Crimson Tide started five left-handed hitters on Saturday, including leadoff hitter Bryce Fowler and top sluggers Kade Snell and Will Hodo. Snell, in particular, was giving LSU fits.Hehit two homers on Thursday,went 2for 4with adouble on Friday and had two more hitsand three walks in the series finale.
“Snell is as good ahitter as I’ve seenin the league this year,” Johnson said. “I really mean that.”
ReassessingLSU’s bullpen Walks continue to be an issue for the Tigers’ bullpen, but it wasn’tabad weekend for the unit as awhole.
Freshman right-handerCasan Evanswas dominant again and junior right-handerZac Cowan closed out Friday’s win despite giving up two earned runs, including his first earned run allowed since March 16
Freshman left-hander Cooper Williams, freshmanright-hander MavrickRizyand redshirt sophomore left-handerDJPrimeaux also combined to throw 22/3 scoreless innings on Saturday.The trio faced 13 batters and allowed just one hit,keepingthe Tigers within striking distancefrom innings five through eight.
“I don’tknow what their lines completely looked like,” Johnson said, “but Ithink that’s whenwegot the three zeros in arow.” Butnot everything wentswimmingly for
By The Associated Press
ARLINGTON,Texas Freddie Freeman brokeupa scoreless game with an eighth-inningsacrificeflyand six Dodgersrelievers completed the shutout afterstarter TylerGlasnow left with lowerleg cramps one pitch into thefifthinningasLos Angeles beatthe Texas Rangers 1-0 on Sunday
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers’ lineup after missing the series’ previous two games, activated off the paternity list afterhis wife gave birth to thecouple’sfirst child in Southern California. Ohtani went 0for 3with awalk that helped produce thegame’sonly run.
to Texas’ lineup after missing nine games with amild oblique strain, wasthrown out trying to steal secondbasetoend the game. The Rangers’ challenge wasdenied. Glasnow was visitedbymanager Dave Robertsand trainerThomas Albert during the fourth inning but stayed in the game.
Rangers starter TylerMahle pitched seven scoreless innings allowing two hits, striking four and walking three.
Keymoment
Phillips struck outAdolisGarcía swinging to end Texas’ eighth inning, leaving the potential tying run at second base.
KeyStat
stappenarguedtheir cases over the radio while lined up behind thesafety car Verstappenaccused Piastri of forcing him off but thestewards disagreed and gavethe Dutch driver afive-secondpenalty for driving off-track and gaining an advantage.Thatwas “lovely,” Verstappenreacted sarcastically.He had to serve thepenalty parked at his pit stop before thecrew could touch the car to change tires.
Askedabout the incident after the race, Verstappen instead praised thefans and the track and said “the rest is what it is.” Norris’gamble
Norris recovered to fourthafter starting 10th.
Norris’ strategy was theopposite of most of the field, starting on the slower,longer-lasting hard tires. It meant he briefly led therace after most other drivers had pitted earlier and could have put him in aposition to win if there was aincident requiring thesafety car or red flag while he was leading. There nearly was abig crash when Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto banged wheelswhile battlingfor position near theback of thefield. Two-time champion Alonso raninto arunoff area but kept his car under control.
thebullpen. Control issues plagued junior right-hander Connor Benge on Thursday and freshman right-hander William Schmidt, redshirt sophomore right-hander Jaden Noot and junior right-hander Jacob Mayers.
Thefour arms combined to walk eight batters over the weekend. Shores also struggled to get outs, allowing four hits,walking two batters andcommitting an error in 22/3 innings. Half of the batters he faced reached base.
Between Shores, Benge, Mayers, Noot and Schmidt,the Tigers will need more consistent play fromatleast afew of them by the time the postseason rolls around, although Mayersgot abig out in relief on Thursday
“The command piece is the last piece for those guys really having achance in their baseballcareer,” Johnson said. “And Imean to play foralongtimeand somebody pay them alot of money to do it.
“We’ll keep working with them.”
Eyansonovercameorder hurdles
Getting through opposing lineups asecondtime has been an issue for junior righthander Anthony Eyanson on numerous occasions. Missouri, Texasand Auburn all had their way with the UC San Diego transfer as each game wore on.
But that wasn’tthe caseonFriday.Eyanson got better as thenight wentalong after allowing arun in thefirst inning. He finished hisouting striking out 12 batters in 6innings, tossing aseason-high 115 pitches in the process.
Even if he didn’thave his bestcontrol— Eyanson walkedfive batters —his curveball was as good as its been all season. He also effectively commanded his splitter and sliderbelow the knees, generating more whiffs on pitches out of the strike zonewith all three off-speed offerings.
CanLSU findroomfor Larson?
Sophomore AshtonLarson hasbeen on the outsidelooking in all season. After starting as afreshman, he entered this weekend with just oneat-bat in SEC play
But his second trip to the plate on Thursdaybecame amemorable one. Larson blasted athree-run homer,cutting LSU’s deficit at thetime down to one. It was only his seventh hit of the season.
“It’sbeen interesting for sure,” Larson saidwhen asked about how he’ddescribe his season thus far.“It’snot necessarily howI pictureditgoing into theyear, butI know that God has aplan and through Him all things are possible.
“So I’ve justbeen relying on my faith, relying onmypeople,and trying to learn from anything that happens and make the most of it.”
Larson’sbig swing helped him earn three more tripstothe plate during the series. But finding anymore playing time for him in the near future, when Johnson is alreadyhaving trouble juggling starts between Frey,Brown and Pearson, will be extremely difficult unless something dramatically changes soon.
Pinch-hitter Will Smith led off theDodgers’ eighth against Chris Martin(0-3) with asingle, the Dodgers’ third and last hit of the game.Smith advanced to second on Ohtani’swalk, movedtothird on adeepflyout to rightfield, and scored on Freeman’sfly to deep left Anthony Banda,Ben Casparius (2-0), Jack Dreyer, Evan Phillips and Tanner Scott combined for five shutout innings. Scott earned his eighthsave. Wyatt Langford, who returned
Mahle lowered his earned run averageto0.68, best in the major leagues.His league-bestopponents’ batting average dropped to .112. Up next
Both teamswill next playTuesday on the road. Dodgers RHP Dustin May(1-1, 1.06 ERA) will open aseries against the Chicago Cubs while Rangers LHP Patrick Corbin (1-0,3.86) will face
BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer
AtBao Trinh’sfirst archery competition in Alexandria, she had apanic attack. She went to the bathroom and cried. She wasn’tthe only one —other members of her team struggled, too. Soon,theyhad ahuddleofgirls in the bathroom, simultaneously comforting each other and trying to calmdown.
Afterthis, she and the others pulled it togetherand did what they came to do: shoot arrows at targets among the 2,000 otherkids competing.
About ayear later,she laughed easily when asked aboutit.
“When Ireally think back on it,” she said, “I’m like ‘How could I be so scared of atournamentthat would be one and done?’
Trinh’sarchery team at Live Oak High School was co-founded by Gotham Archery.Their youthprogram partners withschools in the GreaterBaton Rouge area to bring archerytopeople who may not try sports otherwise.
Gotham Archeryowner Ken Hsu, who is from New York City, said he didn’t have opportunities to trysportslikearchery while he
wasinschool duetofinancialreasons. When he was about 19 years old, he resolved to try adifferent hobby every year to “catch up.” Archerywas the second or third hobby he tried. Now,his goal is to teach theskill andcultivate aspace where anyone can find their place.
“I just don’tlike seeingpeople treated theway Iwas treated when Igot into the sport,” he said. According to Hsu, the first bow shop he visited in New York didn’t even measure him. They sold him
an expensive bow that didn’tfit him.The second one he drove to was 45 minutes away,and they always said they didn’thaveroom forhim,evenwhenthe rangewas empty. He ended up driving an hour anda half each waytoanother shop that had awelcoming environment. Eventually,after 10 years of workingininvestment banking, he decided to pivot andstart his
nitely gotten alot more confident in myself.It’s(archery)made me accept that not everything’sgonnabeperfect,and that sometimes you’re just gonna have to acceptthat badthings will happen,but you just have to persevere.” BAO TRINH,student at Gotham Archery
What is meant by pseudodementia?
Pseudodementia is apsychiatric condition that appears to mimicsymptomsofdementia but does not have its roots in neurological degeneration. This condition is sometimes called depressive pseudodementia, as the symptomsoften stem from moodrelated conditions such as depression. Pseudodementia had sometimes been linked to any factitious mental illness, however,inthe 1960s the term came to be knownmore specifically to the situation in which a “functional” psychiatric illness imitated dementia.
The primary symptoms of pseudodementia include speech and language difficulties, lapses or losses in memory,attention deficits, problems with organizing and planning and trouble with regulating emotions. Because these symptomsare very common in individuals with dementia, adoctor may diagnose and treat these individuals as though they have dementia. Yet, because pseudodementia often has a link to depression, individuals also may experience symptomsthat include aloss of interest in activities, adepressed mood that lasts forweeks at a time, social withdrawal, insomnia, fatigue, loss of appetite or overeating, and even suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Mood-related conditions such as depression are potential causes and the mostcommon. Many doctors will not consider pseudodementia until they have entirely ruled out dementia and other possible causes of the symptoms. In older adults, particularly,depression may cause significant cognitive impairment that can lead to consideration of adiagnosis of pseudodementia. However,though it is most commonly associated with depression, other mental health conditions, like schizophrenia or dissociative disorder,can cause similar symptomsand should be evaluated.
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff
of themusical “Cabaret” do as the jazz age is about to giveway to Hitler’srise. McNeeseisdirectingthe show, whichopens April24onthe Ascension Community Theatre stage at 823 N. Felicity Ave. in Gonzales. Rehearsals for the musical came on theheels of Sullivan Theater’s musical, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which McNeese also directed in March. “They’re two totally differentstories, but Isee alot of the same kind of themes in it,which is seeing people for people,” he said.“So thereare commonalities there, but of course, the stories are set in two different time periods. But the same things run throughout both of them, and its seeing people for who they are.”
Ascension Community Theater
And everybody is living life on their terms in and around “Cabaret’s” setting of Berlin’sKit Kat Club, known forits decadent celebration. Theclub’sentertainment is helmed by the Emcee, played by Michelle Freneaux Chassaing, backed by achorus called the Kit Kat Girls. Standing in the spot-
ä See ‘CABARET’, page 2C
Pseudodementia and dementia can be difficult to distinguish. For instance, individuals experience changes in cognition and brain function as they age, so separating normal agerelated changes versus early signs of depression or dementia proves problematic. Additionally,itisvery possible for an individual to have true dementia and suffer from depression at the same time. Thus, diagnosing pseudodementia can take time as athorough round of tests and evaluations are needed to ascertain adiagnosis. Once diagnosed with pseudodementia, treatment can take along period of time, noting the individual’sresponse to the treatment options and any adjustments that need to be made. In many cases, this involves treating the depression that has led to the symptoms, so treatment typically involves acombination of
chotherapy and medication. Medications fordepression, such as
Dear Doctors: My doctor wants me to hydrate more, but Ifind it difficult to drink the 64 ouncesof water per day he recommends. I havea proteinshake with 8ounces of milk each morning —does thatcount toward my total consumption? What other strategies would you suggest?
Dear reader: The conversation withyour doctor about drinkingenough water mirrors one we have with many of ourown patients. It’sanimportant topic becausewater plays akey role in so many bodily functions. We need it to regulate body temperature; break down, transport and absorb nutrients; maintain blood volume; eliminate metabolic byproducts; regulate electrolyte balance;support immuneresponse; maintain healthy blood
Continued from page1C
own archery business in New York City.Hestill has locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, buthemoved to Louisiana seven years ago in search of adifferent market for archery
To him, archery isn’tjust about hunting or shootingat targets, it’salso about community andbuildingconfidence. For alot of the students, he said, it’sthe first sport they really take to and do well in, and he wants to make it easy for people to give it atry.That means telling kids not to buy equipment in the beginning.
“Whatwe’ve seen down here is alot of kids don’tparticipate in sports because of the high cost of just starting,” he said. “It’snot fair to tell aparent to take 100% of the risk.”
Isabella Russell, asophomore at Live Oak High School, found archery when shewas anew studentat anew school. Last year was her first year in public school after being homeschooled for the first years of her education. Hsu was sitting at atable during freshman orientation, ready to recruitnew students.
Russell’slove of archery wasn’t immediate, butshe stuck with it, made friends and now,she lovesit. According to her mother Deanna Russell, it’sbeen transformational.
“She was very quiet, very introverted, didn’t really want to get involved in any type of school activities, and this year is the opposite,” her mom said. “I just see a lot more joy in her this year.”
According to Deanna Rus-
Continued from page1C
light is British chanteuse Sally Bowles, played by Kamryn Hecker.
Meanwhile, American writer Clifford Bradshaw, played by Don Fields, steps off atrain and rents aroomat anearby boarding house. He meets Sally, and their eventual romance walks atightrope betweenhope and doom.
“Cabaret” debutedin Broadway’sBroadhurst Theatre on Nov.20, 1966, winning eight Tony Awards and inspiring the 1972 Oscarwinning, Bob Fosse-directed film starring Liza Minnelli.
The musical duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the music and lyrics, and Joe Masteroff wrotethe book for “Cabaret,” which is based on Christopher Isherwood’s1939 novel, “Goodbye to Berlin.”
“Its setting of Berlin in Weimar Republic that was very much aplace of freedom of expression since the late 1800s,” McNeese said. “It was aplace of freedom to express your gender identity,sexuality,those types of things.”
With that in mind, McNeese chose to cast Chassaing in the role of the Emcee, which, most times, is played by amale actor Joel Grey originatedthe role on Broadway and won an Oscar for the role in the film. Alan Cumming later wonaTonyAward forhis portrayal of the Emcee in
Dr.Elizabeth Ko
Dr.Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS
pressure; moisten the mucus membranes; keep skin moisturized; and keep the connective tissuespliant and lubricated
In theory,thirst will prompt peopletodrink thewater they need. In reality,that’snot always the case. When you’re busy, stressed or absorbed in atask, the signalsofthirst can be easy to ignore. There’salso the fact that the sensation of thirst diminishes
as we age. The amount someone needs to drink each day also varies. It depends on age, body size, fitness and activitylevel. Butclimate, environment and even altitude also play important roles. The 64 ounces your doctor recommends is based on the guideline of eight glasses of water per day.Another common rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day.With our own patients, we simplify thingsand recommenddrinking to quench thirst and —this is theimportantpart —enough to ensure that the urine runs clear
You’renot alone in struggling to stay hydrated. The good news is that, yes,the milk in your morning smoothie, as well as the tea, coffee andother beverages
sell, abig drawofarchery is therelativelylow barrier to entry:it’snot like gymnastics where someone has to start as asmall child or be behind your peers.Archery is something youcan learn within ayear andexcelat. This kind of transformation is commonplaceatGotham. For Hsu,huntingseason and the associated business in bowrepairs paythe bills. The rest of theyear,he focuses on giving back to the community
“He probablyhas oneof the biggesthearts Iknow for thekids,” said Andrew Finn, afather of astudent whose daughter, Bailey,isalso part of theyouth program. In years past,Hsu has made dealswith kids in the programto try to help get theirgradesup. He incentivized kids who were about to be expelled to make honor roll.
“If kids have straight Fs, if they can make straight As, I’d give themabow,” he said. “With that, we’ve been able
The Ascension Community Theatre productionruns April 24-27 and May1-4 in the theater at 832 N. Felicity Ave, Gonzales. Sundaymatinees begin at 2p.m.All other shows begin at 7p.m.Tickets are $20$35.Visit actgonzales.org
the1998 revival.
But, as McNeese sees it, theEmcee’sgender doesn’t matter.
“We’re taking aandrogynous approachtothe Emcee,”hesaid. “Michelle and Ihave talked alot about the Emcee, and there is along tradition of peopletaking on theroleand playing it in totallydifferent ways. Ithink not putting the Emceea genderedbox really kindofencapsulates thekindoffreedomthat was inthe Weimar Republic at thetime. And then throughout the story, yousee whathappens when youstart to have this threat of fascism and authoritarianism cometoBerlin.”
Chassaing, meantime,auditioned for “Cabaret”solely to winthe part of the Emcee.
“The Emcee specifically hasalways been arolethat Ifound very intriguing,” Chassaing said. “Thisisan undefinedcharacter,becausethe Emcee doesn’t directly take partinthe in the plot, andI like theidea of acharacter that’salso aconcept. So, the Emcee, as acharacter,doesn’t really exist. We feel like we go through the story with
to track over400 Fgrades go to As.”
He’shad to scaleback on makingdeals (giving away $1,000 bows is not asustainable businessmodel), but he still does them. Evenwithoutthe incentive of free equipment, the program offerssomething not monetarily quantifiable: selfesteem.
Trinh wentontoplace 14th at theJuniorOlympic indoor nationaltournament in her division this year.She also won first place at adifferent tournament and left witha $250 scholarship.
“I’ve definitely gotten alot more confident in myself,” Trinhsaid. “It’s(archery) mademeaccept that not everything’sgonna be perfect, and that sometimes you’re just gonna have to accept that badthingswillhappen, but you just have to persevere.”
Email Serena Puang at serena.puang@ theadvocate.com.
Cliff andSally andFraulein Schneider,Herr Schultz, and they’rereal characters, but theEmcee is morelike asort of manifestation of theculturalawarenessofthe time into aperson. It’slike we are all the Emcee —the Emcee could be any of us.
Chassaing’smention of Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz bring up two other characters whose romance plays out in the story
Fraulein Schneider, played by KatieSills-Thibodaux, owns the boarding house where Clifford lives. She fallsinlove with boarder Herr Schultz, played by Devin Rogers, whoseoverthe-top positivity is described as toxic.
But there’s one thing hampering their romance —Fraulein Schneideris German and HerrSchultz is Jewishina time when antisemitism is growing in Germany as the Nazis step into power
“She loves Herr Schultz, but she has to make adecision whether to stay with him or break off the relationshiptoprotect herself,” Sills-Thibodaux said.
What does shedecide in the end? Well, even those whohaveseen only the movie version of “Cabaret” will have to makeatripto Gonzales to find out.
“Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultzaren’tmajor charactersinthe film, so youreally don’tknowmuch about themlike you do in the play,” Sills-Thibodaux said.
So, no spoilers here.
you may drink throughout the day,count toward your hydration total.Depending on your diet,upto20% of daily water can come from fruits, vegetables and liquid dairy products. But thebalance has to be made up with beverages. Some people find adding asqueezeofcitrus or a few slices of cucumber to plain water makes it more palatable Sparkling waterisalso agreat alternative. But limit sweetened beverages, which contribute added sugars. Ditto forartificially sweetened beverages, whichadd chemicals to your diet. If you find you’re still falling short, consider water-based strategies. Starting the day with aglass of water can awaken your thirstawareness. Water before a meal not only contributes to daily
totals, but it can also help manage appetite. Track water intake by filling areusable bottle with your daily amount, and empty it gradually throughout the day.And, if all else fails, try tough love. Remind yourself that being chronically dehydrated increases your risk of developing gallstones, kidney stones, heart arrhythmias, pancreatitis, blood clots, high or low blood pressure, headache and fatigue. Bottom line: Getting enough water each day is crucial to staying healthy
Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite1450, Los Angeles CA, 90024.
By The Associated Press
Today is Monday, April 21, the 111th day of 2025. There are 254 days left in the year
Todayinhistory: On April 21, 2016, Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times, was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis from an accidental fentanyl overdose; he was 57.
On this date:
In 1836, an army of Texans,led by Sam Houston, defeated theMexican Army, led by Antonio López de SantaAnna, in theBattle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution.
Continuedfrom page1C
may reduce symptoms. Cognitive behavior and interpersonal therapies may alsohelp improve the
In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better knownasMark Twain, died in Redding, Connecticut, at age 74.
In 1975, with Communist forces closing in, South Vietnamese President Nguyen VanThieu resigned after nearly 10 years in office, fleeing the country five days later
In 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon, but waslater exposed as having cheated by entering the racecourse less than 1mile before the finish line. (Canadian Jacqueline Gareau was named the actual winner of the women’srace.)
symptomsand treat the underlying cause. Though individuals with depression may respond well to treatments, cognitive impairment may linger but may also return over time.
Dana Territo is an
In 2015, an Egyptian criminal court sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012. (Morsi collapsed and died during trial on espionage charges in June 2019.) Today’sbirthdays: Actor-comedian-filmmaker Elaine May is 93.
Alzheimer’sadvocate andauthor of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’sDisease.” Shehosts “TheMemory Whisperer.” Email herat thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.
tAuRus (April20-May 20) Uncertainty is theenemy. When in doubt, ask questions and look foraway to revise issues to suit your needs. Achange of attitude will broadenyourperception.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Go directlyto the source when something appears questionable. It's up to you to get your information straight before making decisions that will affect your next move.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Saynoto excess andyes to ahealthy lifestyle. Learn from your mistakes and consider what'simportant to you. Brainstorm and discovera unique way to useyour talents.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Pushforward with thought, planning and curiosity. It's nevertoo latetochange,upgrade or expand your circle of friends. Your thirst for knowledge will lead to serious considerationsand adventure.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept.22) It's up to you to bring aboutchange. Dig in; discipline and determination will help you reach your goal andleave alasting impression on the people you encounter. Engage and controlthe outcome.
LIBRA (sept.23-oct. 23) Shake things up andsee whathappens. Your ability to move mountains withyourcharm, connections and displaysofappreciation will contribute to your success
scoRPIo (oct.24-nov. 22) Put your emotions aside and focus on self-improvement andchangesthatmakeyourlife
lesschaotic. Network or take on aprojectoractivity that challengesyou to look and feel your best.
sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec.21) Think before you spend money, and you'll avoid falling short. Generosity won't buy you what you want. You'll make the bestimpression if you finish what you start and live up to your promises
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Establish your position and what you want to achieve. Knowledge and making key connections to people in aposition to help youwill getyou where youwant to go.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Channel your energy wisely. The temptation to squander your time or cash will leave you at aloss. Maintaining apractical attitude and concentrating on your goal will pay off.
PIscEs (Feb.20-March 20) Work alone. Letting others interrupt or talk you into unnecessary spending andadd-onswill complicate your goals. Changing your surroundings will offer inspiration. ARIEs(March 21-April 19) Positioning yourself for successwill broaden your scope and encourage you to find new outlets for your skills.A change in how you earnand handle your money looks promising.
The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. ©2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created fromquotationsbyfamous people, past and present. Each letter in thecipherstands foranother toDAy'scLuE: REQuALs P
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the samenumber only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Saturday’s Puzzle Answer
Bridge
By PHILLIP ALDER
AldoLeopold,anecologistandenvironmentalist who died in 1948, said, “Conservation is astate of harmony between men and land.”
Entry conservationinbridge is astate of harmonybetween cards and hands. That was the subject of last week’s columns.But before we move on, here is one more declarer technique that requires careful entry handling. How should South play in four hearts after West leads the club king?
The auction followed apredictable path.
South has four losers: twodiamonds and twoclubs. He has onlyninetop tricks: two spades, six hearts and one club. The only chance for an extra winner is to establish dummy’sspades. But if that suit is splitting 4-2, as it ratestodo, declarer will need three dummy entries: two for ruffing spades in his hand and one to return to the dummy to cash the 13th spade. What are those entries?
Theymustbeonespadeandtwohearts. Why not two spades?
Because an entry counts only if South can immediately trump aspade in his hand. This is the best line: Win the first trick with the club ace, cashthe heart king, play offdummy’s top spades, and ruff a spade high in hand so that theunfriendly
West cannotoverruff. Continue with a lowheart to dummy’s nine, ruff another spade high, and play atrump to dummy’s ace (removing West’s lastheart). Then South can happily cash the spade sixand discard one of hisminor-suit losers. That is textbook entry conservation and suit establishment. ©2025 by
Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word,phrase, name, place, saying, etc. Forexample: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InstRuctIons: 1.
Averagemark 15 words
Time
today’s thought “But the day of the Lord will come as athief in the night; in
